As It Should Be
by LoneWolf1968
Summary: Fallout 4 kind of irritated me that there were no speech checks to talk any of the factions out of destroying each other, useless Minutemen quests to defend settlements no matter how many people or defenses was already there. And don't get me started on the radiation storms. From a Military view so enjoy. I own nothing associated with Bethesda or Fallout.
1. Chapter 1

**I am sure a lot of you play Fallout. I was a little disappointed with the new Fallout 4. To me there just wasn't enough dialogue or what I wanted to say wasn't there. It also kind of irritated me that there were no speech checks to talk any of the factions out of destroying each other, useless Minutemen quests to defend settlements no matter how many people or defenses was already there, and don't get me started on the random radiation storms. If I ever meet the person that programmed those and thought it was a good idea, I will throat punch them. So I am going to write this in the way I believe the storyline should have went based on the tactical and military experience of the Lone Survivor (male character) so it will not follow the exact storyline of the game.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Fallout or anything associated with it or Bethesda Software and am not writing this for profit.**

 **Vault 111**

 **Time and Date Unknown**

Retired Colonel Jonathan "Bullseye" Jones shook his head to try and clear the fog from it. It was cold in the pod and ice covered the glass in front of him. Once his head cleared a bit, he took his hand and wiped the frost from the glass.

Standing in front of his pod were two people. One he immediately recognized as having some type of military or similar training. He was also wearing some type of metal contraption on his left arm and was bald. The other was dressed in a full hazard suit so all he could tell from the shape of her body was that it was a female.

He could barely make out what they were saying as the woman pointed to his wife and son Shaun's pod. "This is the one." The bald man motioned toward the pod. "Open it up then." The woman turned to the pod release switch and did as she was told.

As the pod opened, John could see his wife holding Shaun. "Is it over? Are we alright?" His wife asked. The bald man answered. "Almost, just a little while longer."

The woman in the hazmat suit began reaching for Shaun. John's wife kept a tight hold on her son. "I've got him. No, I've got him." The other woman continued to struggle with her. The bald man raised a large pistol and pointed it at his wife's head.

"Let the boy go. I won't ask again." His wife continued to hold on to their son tightly. "No. I'm not giving you Shaun. I won't let you take him!" John was yelling to let her go and leave them alone. Then the world seemed to stop as the large pistol belched flame and a loud bang echoed through the room. John's wife's head snapped back as blood sprayed the inside of her pod.

The bald man was not happy. "God damn it. Get the kid out of here." As the pod closed on his wife, John made a cutting motion across his throat and pointed at the bald man. It didn't seem to bother the bald man as he leaned close to John's pod.

"Well, at least we still have the back-up." John locked eyes with the bald man and the bald man actually shivered a bit before walking out of John's view. John let the image of the man's face burn into his memory as he began looking for a way to escape his pod. He was getting nowhere when a fine mist came from nozzles above his head and the fog returned to his mind as the frost recovered the glass in front of him.

 **Unknown amount of time later**

John woke again to the fog in his mind. This time though, his pod door opened and he fell forward to land on his hands and knees. He coughed a couple of times and looked around. Seeing nobody around he rose to his feet and moved to his wife's pod. He flipped the same switch the woman in the hazmat suit had and the pod opened with a hiss.

John reached up and cupped his wife's frozen face. "I'll find the son of a bitch that did this and I'll get Shaun back. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you my love but I will avenge you." With that he removed his wife's ring and attached it to the chain on his dog tags that still hung around his neck.

John moved down to the other pods in the room to see if anyone was still in them. Each pod was still closed and contained someone. Ice crystals covered the inside of every pod. John realized these were not decontamination pods as he had been told.

"These are cryogenenic suspension pods. Why would Vault-Tec do this" John said to himself as he moved to the computer control terminal near the door. He accessed the terminal and saw that all of the people in the room were dead as the manual override used when Shaun was taken, had caused a malfunction in the pods killing everyone except him.

John searched the room quickly to see if he could find a weapon or anything useful. Nothing was in this room at all so he moved down the hall to another room full of pods. A quick check of the computer terminal there confirmed the people in this room to be dead as well.

John noticed an expandable baton lying on top of a table next to an empty coffee cup so he picked it up. "Well it's better than nothing I guess." He said quietly to himself. As he moved down another hall he noticed something scurry across the floor and it was moving in his direction. As it got closer, he raised the baton and smashed it down on what he now saw to be a giant cockroach. " _What the hell? Giant cockroaches?_ " Was all he could think.

He searched the vault room by room but didn't find much else of use. He did come across a stimpack in the security office and more empty coffee cups. He accessed the computer terminal in the Security Office to try and gain more Intel on his situation. He passed through the messhall and took note of anything that might be useful later as he didn't want to burden himself with a lot of junk just in case.

In the Overseer's office, he found more stimpacks and the best find so far. A 10mm pistol and a couple boxes of shells. John lifted the lab coat covered skeleton from the chair and laid it gently against the back wall before settling himself behind the computer terminal. He read through all of the entries and was slowly building a picture of what had happened after the vault was sealed. It was not a picture that was to his liking either. John had spent more than twenty seven years in the United States Army.

He had progressed through Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces training to become a triple canopy wearing member of Delta Force. He was one of the troops sent in to liberate Alaska after the Chinese invasion. He had a very strong sense of honor and he was fuming over the orders to the Overseer from Vault-Tec executives.

John finished reading through the e-mails and other information on the Overseer's terminal and then used it to unlock the large door leading out of the office. Before stepping into the hallway, he searched the Overseer's bedroom, finding several bobby pins and more ammunition for the pistol.

There was also a small armory attached to the Overseer's office where he put the bobby pins and screwdriver he had found to use. He had read about the Overseer's experiment with the Cryolator Rifle so he decided to pick the lock to its case and take it with him.

John stepped into the hallway leaving the Overseer's office and immediately crouched down after seeing several giant cockroaches hanging from the walls ahead of him. He drew the 10mm and took careful aim at the closest cockroach and squeezed the trigger. The cockroach exploded in a green spray of goo. The remaining cockroaches dropped to the floor and began skittering towards him.

He let out a slow breath and opened fire on the five roaches heading his way. John smiled to himself as the last cockroach blew apart just as the five before it had. "I've still got it. Six shots, six kills."

He stood and made his way passed the mess he had made of the cockroaches. As he neared the embarkation room, he noticed another cockroach approaching him. Instead of shooting it, he holstered the pistol and drew the baton. As the roach leapt into the air, John brought the baton down on its head, splattering it before it could reach him. He moved into the room and looked down at the roach blood and guts splattered all over his vault suit. Lucky for him he not only found several clean and neatly folded vault suits, he also found more ammo for the pistol.

After collecting the ammo and a clean vault suit, he moved to the platform where the vault door controls were. He had to kill another roach that was hiding under the skeleton of one of the Vault-Tec workers.

Near the workers skeleton he noticed and picked up a dusty pip-boy. "Sweet, it looks like a much better model than the ones I worked with in the Army." He fastened the pip-boy around his wrist and secured the latch. He wiped the screen and pushed the power button and smiled in satisfaction as the minicomputer went through is start-up and self test.

Once the boot up was complete and the icon on the screen actually gave him a thumbs up, he pulled the remote link from the pip-boy and plugged it into the door controls. A few seconds later, John replaced the remote link into the pip-boy and hit the vault door activation button.

He was happy to see the mechanism swing into place and spin to release the locking bolts in the massive vault door. It screeched and squealed as the massive, semi-star shaped door retracted and rolled to the right side of the opening.

As John rode to the surface on the very same elevator that it seemed he had just came down on, the bright sunlight temporarily blinded him. He took a quick knee to make himself a smaller target as he gave his eyes time to adjust. All around him, John could see almost nothing but devastation and destruction.

More skeletons lay scattered around the immediate area. After a quick search of the trailers and vehicles surrounding the vault he began making his way down to Sanctuary Hills. He was puzzled at the lack of footprints that he just knew he would find that would give him an idea as to the direction the murdering bastard had taken his son.

The sights he was seeing around him were puzzling as well. Several of his neighbors houses were in lying in ruin, others were still standing but in shambles. Dead trees and broken cars littered the streets.

As he rounded the corner toward his house, a very welcome sight greeted him. His robot butler, Codsworth was hovering right there in front of his house. "Codsworth? Wow buddy. You look like hell!" The robot drifted toward him. "As I live and breathe! Mr. John, is that really you?" Hearing the familiar British accent caused a smile to grow on John's face. "Yes Bud, it's really me. Did you see a bald man and a woman wearing a hazmat suit pass though here?"

The whir of motors hummed softly as Codsworth spun in place. "No sir I haven't seen anyone in quite some time. I have looked for evidence that you and your family had been killed in the bombing but was thankfully unable to find any. Speaking of the Mrs. and young Shaun, where are they?"

Sadness crept back into John's voice. "That bald man and woman I asked you about killed Nora and stole Shaun. But I am going to find them and make them pay for what they did no matter what it takes." Codsworth was as stunned as a robot could be.

"Sir, these terrible things you are saying, surely they can't have happened?" This time a cold resolve settled over John. "They did happen Codsworth and I was powerless to stop them. But I will not rest until I find them and bring Shaun home where he belongs. First, it looks like we need to clean up around here, get us a solid base of operations established, and go from there."

Codsworth stopped feeling sorry for himself and perked up as much as a robot could. "Right you are Sir! Just tell me what you need done and I'll get to work on it. On another not, I did find this holotape left my the Mrs." He said as he produced it and handed it to John.

John accepted the holotape then looked around the ruined community in deep thought. "Well first I would say we clean up our house and get the holes patched up. While we work, give me a sitrep on all you have seen and learned since the bombs fell." John began sweeping the house and throwing out broken furniture while Codsworth filled him in on the last two-hundred years and change.

John froze. "Wait, did you say two-hundred years?" Codsworth actually chuckled. "A bit over two-hundred and ten years give or take a few dings on the old chronometer." John actually had to sit down. "Two-hundred years... I'm shocked. I almost don't know what to say. So much time wasted. Well, no since crying over spilled milk. Let's get back to it."

By night fall, John and Codsworth had most of the house cleaned, the broken furniture piled outside, and the holes in the roof and walls patched. John had made several trips back to the vault with Codsworth coming along to help carry equipment and resources to repair the house with.

Even with the death of his wife and the kidnapping of his son, John's Special Forces training allowed him to achieve a deep, healing sleep. He still dreamt about Nora and Shaun and doubted he would ever stop dreaming of them.

John was awake before daylight and trying something he had learned from Codsworth the previous night. During his training, John had eaten a lot of strange things, grilled radroach was not one of them. He had actually laughed when Codsworth told him the names of some of the mutated animals no inhabiting the Earth. He was angered to learn about the Super Mutants, Raiders, and other dangers that the radiation of the war had spawned. Together John and Codsworth had killed several Bloat Flies and more radroaches while searching the community for more resources.

With Codsworth using his buzz saw on the fallen trees and helping John drag the sheared logs to the perimeter, a sturdy wall was beginning to take shape around the small community. John took a break and leaned against the corner of the house nearest the gate. He looked around at his and Codsworth's handy work and realized they would need stronger walls than just trees if Super Mutants or Raiders decided to attack the town.

"Codsworth, do you know if the old iron works is still operational?" John asked as a plan began forming in his mind.

"I have no idea Sir. The furthest I have been from home was down to Concord where some Raiders took a few shots at me before I decided it was time to leave. I haven't ventured out since."

John pondered on that for a bit. "Well, I guess after we get this wall up, I'll have to start scouting further out and see what I can do about those Raiders." Where the road leading out of town crossed the river, John built two guard towers, one on either side of a large junk gate between the stone pillars of the bridge.

He added another gate and two more towers on the path leading up to the vault and a total of five more towers in strategic points around the little community. Every tower was in view of at least one, sometimes more towers and had interlocking fields of fire as well.

It took a little over two weeks for John and Codsworth to finish the wall and guard towers. They had to begin gathering more timber from the surrounding woods but they got it done. John never went anywhere without the baton and the pistol on him.

He had found a crude pipe pistol chambered in .38 caliber and several grenades lying next to a skeleton in one of the abandoned houses. He used the weapons skills he learned in the Army and the workbench near his house to fashion a stock, a longer barrel, a suppressor, and a scope to turn the pistol into a medium range rifle.

Once the wall was completed, John began work on a water purifier that would bring clean drinking water from the river. He had to scrounge parts from several cars around the neighborhood but he got it up and running with a small generator he built as well.

It took him another week to finish the purifier and generator, then John packed a small backpack with bottled water, ammunition, and some grilled radroach. He then washed off in the river, took some radaway, then got a good night's sleep before starting out for Concord the next morning.

As he crossed the bridge, John saw a man's body next to a dead and mangy looking dog. He searched the body finding another pipe pistol, some .38 shells, and a combat knife. He drug the dead man off to the side of the road. " _I need to bury him and start burying the skeletons as well. It's the least they deserve."_ John thought to himself. So he drug the man up the small embankment and began to dig a grave.

After an hour of digging he was satisfied with the depth so he gently laid the man in the bottom and began covering it back up. He then fashioned a small cross out of some broken limbs and placed it on the grave.

As he drew near the old Rocket Station, he noticed a large German Sheppard begin to approach him. The dog wasn't acting aggressive and didn't look anything like the mangy mutt he had found earlier. John realized this had been someone's pet so he took a knee and held out his hand palm up. "Hey boy, where's your owner? Are you out here all alone?"

The dog cautiously approached John and sniffed his hand. He whined just a little bit and gave a small bark. John began to pet the dog and look him over.

"Good boy, you've been getting regular baths and food haven't you? You can come with me if you want. I think I'll call you Dogmeat, if that's ok with you." The dog barked once and wagged his tail happily.

As John stood up, a large form burst from the ground a few feet in front of him. Dogmeat growled and immediately lunged toward what John now recognized as a molerat from Codsworth's description.

He drew the 10mm but before he could aim and fire, Dogmeat ripped out the molerat's throat. Several more burst from the ground though and he realized they had lured Dogmeat into an ambush. John immediately opened fire, killing everything he targeted.

Dogmeat fought with several molerats as well dodging in and out to avoid their large teeth and claws. John and Dogmeat fought the molerats for several minutes before they were able to kill all of them. John had managed to kill any that attacked him before they reached him but Dogmeat had not been quite so lucky. As fast and skilled as he was, he was still injured slightly.

There was a pot hanging on a trellis behind the station so John built a fire under it to heat some water. Once the water was boiling, he took some and put into a pot he found in the station to use to bathe Dogmeat's wounds. After the wounds were cleaned up, John took out a stimpack and used it to help his new friend heal faster.

After roasting some of the molerat and having a good meal, John decided to look around the station a bit to see what he might find. He found several useful items to include some still working tools and duct tape. He also found a working computer terminal and learned there was a cave not far from the station.

" _I'll bet that's where those molerats came from. It would make the perfect spot to ambush prey from for them._ " John thought to himself. Since it was just past noon, he decided to try and locate the cave to put an end to the molerat ambushes.

It didn't take him long to find the cave and a small cache of fuel cans and more tools just outside its entrance. John decided not to use the pistol or the rifle as he realized no ammunition factories were around to make more. So he drew out the baton in one hand and the combat knife in the other and entered the cave slowly.

Inside the cave, he spotted another molerat around some junk near the back of the cave. He flipped the knife around so he held it by the point before drawing his arm back and letting it fly. The knife struck the molerat between the shoulder and neck and sang to the hilt.

The moley (as John was starting to call them in his head) didn't even squeal before it rolled over dead. He killed two more moleys before he figured he had them all. As he was exploring the small cave, the Geiger counter on his pip-boy began clicking like crazy and he realized the nuclear waste the terminal had said was hidden here was leaking.

John collected everything of use he could find (which included an intact fusion core) and quickly left the cave. He took another shot of radaway as soon as the pip-boy showed he was clear of the radiation. When he was almost back to the station, he heard gunfire coming from Concord. He whistled once and Dogmeat came running out of the station to meet him.

John removed the rifle from his shoulder and began moving quickly toward the gunfire, using the buildings for cover. As he moved passed each building, he paid close attention to Dogmeat's reactions.

Dogmeat would slowly approach each building with his ears perked and nose twitching. When he didn't smell or hear anything, he moved to the next building. In this way John was spared the job of having to clear each building himself to make sure he didn't leave an enemy at his back.

As John pied (Police and Military slang term for peeking around a corner in increments) one corner, he noticed a Raider (from Codsworth's description) firing down the street at someone in the Museum of Freedom. John shrugged. "If the Raider is shooting at someone, that someone must be a good guy." He mumbled to himself.

So John used the corner of the building as a rest and centered his crosshairs on the back of the Raider's head. He breathed out slowly and at the bottom of the breath, he squeezed the trigger gently. He smiled in satisfaction as the Raider's head jerked forward and blood sprayed the wall in front of him.

John moved forward to the next building and again pied the corner. There were several dead bodies in the street and at least four more Raiders (that he could see) that were also firing at someone in the museum. He watched for a few seconds and saw a man wearing an old style musketeer hat and a long duster, fire a laser rifle off the balcony of the museum. One of the Raiders was hit but not critically.

John centered his crosshairs on the wounded Raider and shot him before he could use the stimpack he had pulled out. He quickly changed targets and shot another Raider that turned to look in his direction. " _Two down, two to go._ " John thought as the man on the balcony hit and killed a third one. John shot the last one and broke cover at a run toward the museum.

The man on the balcony had known someone else was out there killing the Raiders attacking him but didn't know where exactly they were until John killed the last one and began running toward him.

"Quick, grab that laser musket and help us! The Raiders are almost through the door and I can't hold them for long!" The man on the balcony yelled before going back inside the museum. John did as he was told and scooped up the strange looking rifle and several fusion cells from the ground. He sat them off to the side though as he wasn't too sure about the way the thing looked. "I'll stick to my slug throwers I think." He said to no one in particular.

He entered the museum to see two more Raiders on the floor above him firing to the floor above them. The museum was in terrible shape compared to what he remembered. He quickly killed the two Raiders he could see then reloaded his rifle.

As he made his way through the museum, the motion sensors on the old program for the museum tour, picked him up and began the play from the Boston Tea Party.

"Shit." John cursed as another Raider heard the noise and took a shot at him. John's reflexes saved his life as he dodged back just in time and the bullet smashed into the wall where his head had been. "What I wouldn't give for a suit of power armor." John said as he tossed a grenade around the corner.

The Raider saw the grenade but couldn't get away before the explosion ripped him to pieces. John pied the corner and moved out after seeing the remains of the Raider.

As he came further down the hall, he heard voices. "What the fuck was that? Hey Tony, you ok man? Tony? Aw shit man, I don't like this one bit. I don't want to stand around and get shot man." Complained one of the Raiders.

Moving quickly but quietly, John closed in on the voices. He pied the corner and saw two more Raiders in another room looking nervously around them with pipe pistols in their hands. To save ammunition, he drew his knife in one hand and slung the rifle while drawing the 10mm as well.

He stepped around the corner and let the knife fly while shooting the second Raider in the face. The knife struck the first Raider in the throat and he was dead before he hit the floor.

John pulled the knife out of the Raiders throat and wiped the blood off on the Raiders shirt before continuing to move toward his goal. He heard two more Raiders yelling at someone behind an apparently barricaded door at the end of a hall. "Open this damn door or I swear I'm gonna go get all my friends and come back here and kill every last one of you!"

He moved to the door in the room he was in quickly as he heard the other Raider. "Come on man, we got other shit to do. Let's go get the rest of the gang and come back."

The other Raider kept talking shit as they moved toward the door John was waiting beside. As the door opened, John pressed himself against the wall and waited. When both Raiders had moved passed him, John reached around the last Raider and sliced his throat.

As the Raider began choking on his own blood, the Raider in front spun around to see the 10mm pointed straight at his face. "Aw shit." Was all he said before the heavy slug blew his brain apart.

He searched each Raider for more ammo and useful items. He then moved up to the doorway and looked around the corner to see the door at the end of the hall open slightly. Then he heard the voice of the man that had been on the balcony. "Hurry up and get in here before the others show up." John didn't need to be told twice and made his way to the door quickly.

Once inside, he saw there were three men and two women in the room. The man from the balcony approached him. "Man I don't know who you are but you are a godsend. I'm Preston Garvey, Commonwealth Minutemen."

John smiled slightly. "John Jones or JJ to my friends, I was happy to help. It seems a lot has changed in the last two hundred years. Are you guys going to be alright?" Preston looked a bit confused but continued.

"A month ago there were thirty of us. Now we're down to five. If you're still willing to help, we could sure use it." JJ shrugged slightly. "Sure, what do you need me to do?" Preston smiled and looked toward the man wearing mechanics coveralls. "Tell him your plan Sturgis." The man in the coveralls turned from the computer terminal he was working on.

"Did you see that crashed vertibird on the roof as you came in? Well someone left a cherry set of T-45 power armor. The problem is that the power source is depleted and I don't have one handy. There is one in the generator in the basement but the door is locked. I'm a mechanic not a lockpick."

JJ simply shrugged out of his backpack and pulled out the fusion core he had found in the molerat den. "this should do just fine to power it." JJ said with a slight smile. Sturgis smiled even bigger. "Well alright. Looks like our luck is turning around. You see, on the Vertibird is a mini-gun. Slap that core into the power armor, rip that mini-gun from the mount, and give those Raiders hell."

Preston breathed a small sigh of relief. "Yep, looks like our luck is turning. When you and that mini-gun show up on that roof? Those Raiders will know they picked the wrong fight." Despite what JJ had been through over the last few weeks, he smiled back and headed for the roof. As he passed an older lady wearing a fortune teller's turban on her head, she looked up at him. "Careful kid. Something's coming and it's angry."

JJ looked at her a bit confused and continued on to the roof. As soon as he opened the door to the roof, he saw the suit of power armor standing right in front of him. JJ grinned and slapped the fusion core home in the back of the armor.

He then turned the wheel and was happy to see the armor split and open to allow him to enter it. " _Whew, glad this thing wasn't froze up and still works._ " He thought silently.

He glanced over the readouts on the HUD (heads up display) in the helmet then turned to the mini-gun on the vertibird and pulled it from its mount. A Raider on an adjacent rooftop spotted him and called out.

"Hey Boss! We got something on the roof!" But those were the last words he ever spoke as JJ spun up the mini-gun and shredded the Raider. Several more Raiders came running up the street to their doom as well. The 5mm mini-gun made short work of any Raider stupid enough to expose himself.

As the remaining Raiders wizened up, JJ sat the mini-gun aside and picked up his rifle. He took careful aim and began taking out one Raider at a time that had anything exposed. He could only see the foot of one so he shot him in the exposed foot.

The Raider screamed and sat up to grab his foot so JJ shot him in the head. JJ could count three remaining Raiders at the far end of the street but they weren't exposing themselves to be shot by what they now realized was a highly trained and expert shot.

JJ was contemplating jumping from the roof and taking the fight to him when a loud roar and sound of screeching metal came from the far end of the street. To JJ's surprise, the street access grate tore open and a large Deathclaw jumped out.

"You've got to be kidding me?" JJ said aloud as the Deathclaw attacked and shredded one of the Raiders. JJ had an idea then so he moved to the edge of the roof and whispered down to Preston who was crouched on the balcony below. "Preston, hold off on firing until they finish with each other. Then we team up on the winner. Either way, we come out ahead." Preston whispered back. "Sounds like a great plan to me."

For the next several minutes, JJ and Preston watched as the Deathclaw and remaining Raiders fought it out in the street below. It was a foregone conclusion that Deathclaw would come out on top as the Raiders didn't have the firepower to handle something like that. JJ only hoped what he and Preston had were enough to finish it off.

As the last Raider screamed and died, a plan begin to form in JJ's head. "Preston, shoot for its legs and see if we can lure it next to that truck about halfway down the block. When it reaches the truck, shift your fire to the engine compartment of the truck and I'll do the same with the mini-gun."

Preston agreed but said he wasn't sure why JJ wanted him to do that. Preston opened fire and hit the Deathclaw in its right leg. It roared in pain and hobbled as fast as it could toward them. As Preston cranked his laser musket, JJ took careful aim on the Deathclaw's right eye with his rifle. As soon as the Claw was near the truck, JJ squeezed of his shot, striking the eye which exploded in a spray of blood and gore.

The Claw screamed in utter anguish and fell against the truck. Preston shifted fire to the truck as JJ sat down his rifle and picked up the mini-gun. It only took a couple of seconds fire between the laser musket and the mini-gun before the fusion core in the truck engine exploded in a mini mushroom cloud. The Deathclaw was completely incinerated in the blast, ending the immediate danger.

Preston headed back inside and to make it shorter, JJ simply jumped from the rooftop and landed in the street with a loud crash before going into the front door. Inside the small group were just making it down the stairs. JJ walked up to Preston. "Is everyone ok?" He asked. Preston looked at him in utter disbelief. "That was a pretty amazing display. I'm just glad you're on our side." To be diplomatic, JJ pulled off the T-45 helmet. "The feelings mutual Garvey."

Preston reached into the pocket of his duster and produced a handful of caps and fusion cells. "Here, I know it's not much but it's the least I could do for your help." JJ frowned but accepted the offering. "I didn't do it to get paid. I did it because it was the right thing to do."

Garvey held up his hands. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I'm just used to everyone being out for themselves, you know? You remind me of my friends, the other Minutemen. You should join us at this place Momma Murphy knows about, Sanctuary Hills." JJ looked up at the name of his home.

"I've already set up my base camp there. I lived there before the war. My butler robot and I have already built a wall, defenses, and a water purifier there. You and you're people are more than welcome to share it with us, there's plenty of room." Preston looked confused. "Are you sure you're alright? You say you lived there before the war?"

JJ nodded. "Me and my family were in vault 111 when the bombs fell. They put us in these pods they called decontamination pods but they were really cryogenenic suspension pods. I've been frozen ever since the bombs first fell. I just woke up a few weeks ago."

Preston was totally shocked. "Man, I didn't know, sorry. Did anybody else make it out?" JJ lowered his head a bit. ""My son, Shaun. He's less than a year old. While I was still trapped in my pod, someone stole him and murdered my wife." Preston lowered his head a bit with sorrow for his new friend. "I'm sorry again friend. It's tough to see someone hurt and be helpless to do anything about it." JJ smiled sadly and placed his hand on Preston's shoulder.

"Well, let's get you folks to Sanctuary Hills and get you settled. Once you're safe and sound, I'll bring Codsworth back with a cart and collect anything useful from the Raiders and Concord."

A short time later as they approached the gate, JJ could see Codsworth hovering in one of the guard towers. As Codsworth noticed the group approaching with JJ in the lead, he made his way to the gate and had it standing open when JJ got there.

"Mr. John. Did you find someone to help you with your search?" He asked in his distinctly British accent. JJ couldn't help but smile. "You could say that. I made a few new friends. They were looking for a safe place to stay and were headed this way. I told them they were more than welcome."

Codsworth spun in place. "Can't have enough of those now days. Jolly good show. Shall I escort them to their new homes?" Preston stepped forward. JJ turned a looked at him.

"Garvey, you can follow Codsworth or just pick any house you want accept the one in the center that is locked. That's mine. We've cleaned up some and repaired the holes in a couple. The others you'll need to work on yourselves. There's a workbench across from my house and an armor and weapons bench as well. Codsworth and I will lend a hand when we get back from Concord. I've used the house with the workbench as a storage area for supplies and resources. Feel free to use anything you need out of there."

Preston thanked JJ and let the others go and chose their own house while he mounted the steps to the guard tower to take Codsworth's place guarding the gate. When it was decided the group would choose their own house, Codsworth grabbed the handle of the cart they had made from an old pick-up truck bed and followed JJ to Concord.

A few hours later, JJ and Codsworth returned with the wagon nearly overflowing with junk. Preston eyed the wagon as it passed. "I guess you have your reasons. That stuff just looks like junk to me."

JJ chuckled. "Ah yes junk but useful junk believe me. You see that old coffee pot? Well, break it down and I see steel, asbestos and ceramic. We can't go to stores and buy stuff the way I used to in my day. We have to break everything down and use what we have until we can get the world rebuilt again."

Preston nodded in understanding. "I knew I liked you for a reason. Back in Concord you said you were happy to help. Are you still willing to do that?" JJ motioned for Codsworth to go on and the robot obediently pulled the wagon on toward the storage house. "Of course I am Garvey. What do you need me to do?" Garvey hadn't realized he was holding his breath until he let it out.

"I received word that a settlement is having trouble with Raiders. I'll mark it's location on your map. Make contact with them and see what you can do to help." JJ nodded. "Sure thing Garvey. Let me help Codsworth unload that wagon and I'll let him explain to Sturgis what I am looking for in the next load. It will take several trips to get everything I earmarked for salvage in Concord alone. I'll accompany them back on the next trip and head out from there."

True to his word, he helped unload the wagon and went back to Concord to help Sturgis and Codsworth load it up again before heading toward Tenpines Bluff.

About halfway to Tenpines, JJ noticed a large satellite dish and remembered that it had been an Air Force listening station. He altered his course toward the station a to see if there was more fusion cores there. He had picked the lock at the Museum of Freedom and taken that one from their generator. He now had a full core and one at 80%.

As he drew near the station, he heard gunshots coming from it. He increased his pace and got close enough to see what was going on through his rifle scope. He could see a Raider shooting at several moleys. A second Raider and a large dog came out of the concrete bunker of the station and joined the fight.

Between the two Raiders and the attack dog, they made short work of the molerats. The dog and the first Raider had been injured so JJ took careful aim on the Raider and shot him in the head.

This caused the dog and the other Raider to start looking around for him. But as he had a suppressor on his rifle, they had no idea where the shot had come from. So JJ switch the crosshairs to the second Raider and shot her as well.

The dog must have zeroed in on the shot as his hearing was sensitive enough to hear it even through the suppressor as he started toward JJ at a full run. JJ slung the rifle over his shoulder and waited as the dog rapidly closed the distance between them.

The dog got a huge surprise when he ran up on the JJ in full power armor. The dog jumped at JJ's head only to be stopped cold in the steel grip of JJ's right hand. JJ simply squeezed and crushed the dogs neck, killing it instantly. He looked down at the dead animal and shook his head. "Sorry to have to do that boy. You should have just ran away."

He made his way to the bodies of the two Raiders and searched them finding more ammo for his rifle and several molotov cocktails. Dogmeat was sniffing around the dead molerats and barked once. JJ went over and found an old silver pocket watch around ones neck. "Good find boy. This may come in handy." He said as he took the watch off of the dead moley and scratched Dogmeat behind the ears.

JJ moved inside the bunker where he found an old flip lighter, a pack of old stale cigarettes, and a dirty looking carton of water. He picked up the lighter and spun the wheel with the thumb on the power suit. He smiled wickedly inside the helmet as it sparked and a flame sprang up. He closed the lighter and picked up a couple of the molotov cocktails before heading through the door to the underground bunker.

He crept as quietly as he could in the power armor and made it down a flight of stairs unnoticed. At the base of the stairs he spotted a laser tripwire. "No wonder there was nobody guarding the door." JJ mumbled to himself. He deactivated the trip wire then the tesla trap on the ceiling.

He made it to the first level and spotted another Raider and another dog on a catwalk through an opening on his left. He unslung his rifle and quickly shot both of the dead. Another Raider had seen his friend fall over and blood spray the wall. He didn't hear anything but knew someone was attacking and killing his friends. "You're gonna pay for that asshole! You're dead when I find you!"

JJ zeroed in on the Raider by the sound of his voice and spotted him through another doorway. The Raider was smart enough to stick to the shadows but not smart enough to keep his mouth shut. It cost him his life as a bullet ripped through his mouth and tore out the back of his neck.

Because of the Raiders yelling, the other Raiders had been alerted to the threat. JJ spotted three moving together under the catwalk. He lit one of the molotov cocktails and through it and the spot in the middle of the three Raiders. When it exploded, flaming fuel quickly covered the three Raiders causing them to scream in pain.

As JJ took aim just in case one survived the flames, a stream of bullets stitched him across his left side. He quickly ducked back behind the cover of the bunker wall. "Son of a bitch!" JJ yelled as one of the bullets had penetrated a seam on the arm of the armor. Someone down there had a mini-gun loaded with armor piercing rounds.

The stream of bullets stopped and JJ could hear the clanging of a mini-gun being reloaded. So he sprang from his hiding place and over the rail of the catwalk. He landed less than two feet from a dark skinned female with white hair.

A stock T-45 suit of power armor weighed in at around 900 pounds. So when he hit the ground, the force of his landing knocked the female Raider to the ground. Before she could recover, JJ kicked her in the face with all the power the servos in the legs could generate. There was a sickening crunch and a tearing sound. The Raider never even screamed as her head was literally kicked from her shoulders.

JJ searched the place but found no more Raiders. He did find several radroaches that he didn't waste any ammo on. He simple smashed them with the boots of the power armor. After killing the radroaches, he found a toolbox with a pretty silver locket and some wonderglue in it. He shook his head. "Humph. Wonderglue indeed. It's over 200 years old and it's still as good as the day it was sold."

He found a key in a desk that said Intel room on it. After collecting a few things (to include the fusion core he originally came here for) he made his way back to the first level and the Intel room. Inside that room, he found several grenades, another Kevlar to go with the one he found in the roach room, and a mininuke.

He collected everything that was of any value and put it all in the Intel room before locking it behind him. He did restock fully on ammo and the grenades and added the fusion core to his backpack. He had attached the backpack (rucksack) to the premade points on the power armor designed for just that purpose. It made the ruck hang a bit to the left but the wearer couldn't feel that under the power armor.

JJ chuckled as he remembered the look on his first drill instructors face when JJ told him the designer of the original system was an idiot. And to prove his point, JJ hit the switch to open the armor and exit it, splitting the ruck down the middle as it was attached to each shoulder like you would wear it without the armor. That little move cost him plenty of pushups but it did get the ruck redesigned so it attached to only one side of the armor.

By the time JJ made it to the surface, it was almost dark. So he decided to spend the night in the underground bunker. He carried the bodies of the Raiders and the dog outside and buried them even though he personally didn't feel they deserved it.

After carrying them to the surface, he exited the power armor on the first level of the bunker to conserve the fusion core. When he was finished with the burials, he heated some water to take a sponge bath with. He then fixed a meal which he shared with Dogmeat before laying down for the night.

The next morning upon leaving the underground bunker, JJ was pleased to see that the Intel room key also locked the main bunker door. This allowed him to double lock the valuable resources he would come back and pick up later with Codsworth.

From the Air force listening station, it took less than an hour to reach Tenpines. As he approached the settlement, one of the farmers approached him with his rifle leveled. "Hold it right there, that's close enough." The obviously scared farmer said.

Even thought the leveled rifle was no threat to JJ, he stopped anyway and kept his hands away from his rifle. "Didn't you ask the Minutemen for help?" JJ asked casually. This caused the farmer to look on in surprise and lower his rifle. "You're really with the Minutemen? I wasn't sure you guys still existed but we sent word with a passing trader just in case."

JJ lowered his hands. "We're rebuilding the Minutemen from the ground up. You can always count on us to lend a hand when you need it." This brought a smile to the farmers face.

"If that's true it would definitely be a turn for the better. We could really use your help with a group of Raiders. They came through a few days ago and took everything they could carry out and said they'd be back every week. Told us if we didn't have what they came to get each week we'd be in big trouble. We know where they're coming from but we can't do anything to stop them. We're farmers not Soldiers."

JJ just spoke evenly to try and reassure the farmer. "That's ok, you just tell me where they are coming from and I'll kick their asses for you." The farmer's wife had walked up at this point.

"They are coming from the old Corvega Plant. They've turned the plant into a veritable fortress." She said with an edge of venom in her voice. JJ chuckled. "That's ok. Taking down fortresses is my specialty. I'll see you again when it's done."

It took JJ three days to make it to the Corvega plant as he had to fight his way through feral ghouls and another small band of Raiders hold up in Lexington. The leader of the Raiders in Lexington was wearing a refurbished suit of power armor. Not a complete set just more of a hodge podge of pieces with cages welded around them.

JJ took the fusion core from that suit and the four more the leader had in an ammo can. That brought his total number of cores eight although the one in his suit was down to less than ten percent.

JJ made his way up onto the old overpass that went by the plant. From this vantage point, he was able to recon the plant much easier. It also gave him the advantage of higher ground. The Raider leader also had been carrying a modified hunting rifle chambered in .308.

JJ removed the suppressor from his rifle, beefed it up at the workbench by the Rocket Station in Lexington, and attached it to the hunting rifle. After studying the movements of the Raiders guarding the outside of the plant, JJ decided to make his move.

He waited until one Raider was at the end of the route he was walking and the furthest from all of the other Raiders. " _One down, fifteen or so to go_." JJ thought quietly. Twenty minutes and eight dead Raiders later, the Raiders finally realized something was wrong.

Only a couple of them realized the most likely place the shots were coming from and made their way to the bottom of the overpass. That was what JJ had been waiting for so he stood up and jumped from the overpass, crushing one Raider and knocking the other to the ground. He repeated the field goal punt on this Raider like he had on the one in the bunker. That left about five or so Raiders on the outside of the plant.

As JJ began moving toward the plant, he got a nasty surprise. From his angle on the overpass, he hadn't been able to see an automated machinegun turret until it opened fire on him. Several of the 5.56mm rounds hit the armor before he was able to duck behind a concrete wall.

Luckily none hit his body even though they penetrated the outer layer of armor. JJ pulled a grenade, pulled the pin, and tossed it in the direction of the turret. With the turret destroyed, JJ made his way to the front door of the plant.

After the explosion from the grenade, JJ figured a stealth approach was out of the question so he pulled both 10mm pistols out and kicked in the door. He had taken a second 10mm from the last Raider group he took out.

JJ moved through the plant killing anything stupid enough to cross his path. The only problems he ran into was a couple of Raiders threw molotov's at him and another had some grenades. The molotov's he shot out of the air before they reached him, with the grenades, he was lucky enough to have decent cover to duck behind.

An hour after entering the plant, JJ walked out of the there, thankful of the power armor he wore. He collected all of the weapons and ammo from the Raiders outside and re-entered the plant. He had an idea and had found just what he needed in the plant. He piled all of the Raiders and the few ghouls from the plant into an empty trailer and spent the night working on his project in the plant.

Early the next morning with Dogmeat sitting by his side, JJ rolled out of the door of the plant in a finished Corvega SUV. He had found it mostly complete on the assembly floor with a sealed crate of the parts needed to finish it sitting next to it. Once he bolted up the drive train and finished the last few touches, all it took to get it fired up was one of his spare fusion cores. It was a rough ride back to Tenpines but JJ made it in much less time than it would have taken to walk it.

The farmer and his wife stood staring in shock as JJ pulled up to their house in the SUV. They were still standing there staring at the SUV when JJ walked up to them. "Those Raiders won't be giving you anymore trouble and I even managed to salvage me a ride from there." He chuckled.

The farmer finally snapped out of his trance. "That's great news. Here's some caps for your trouble and we talked it over. We decided if you came through for us that we would support the Minutemen. If we want it to get any better around here, we have to help each other. You can count on us if you ever need anything."

On the way back to Sanctuary Hills, JJ spotted a robot salvage not too far from the listening station. He had went back there to collect the gear and stuff he left there since he had a vehicle to carry it in now. He pulled up to the salvage and saw a large sentry robot sitting enactive in it. He approached it cautiously and saw that it was completely deactivated. In a truck marked with a huge US star. He quickly opened the truck and was excited to find another fusion core and an M-71 Assault rifle with a case of ammo in it.

JJ went inside the salvage shack and found it still had a working terminal. Laying near the terminal was a holotape marked "combat sentry MKIV prototype". JJ picked up the holotape and loaded it into the computer. He found the activation code for the robot and used it. He was hoping that, since it was a prototype, his override code would work and he could take control of the robot. A combat sentry robot would come in real handy in defending settlements.

He could hear the sentry powering up and going through its self test. As he began walking to the door he heard the distinct sound of molerats bursting through the ground and attacking the sentry. He laughed and waited until the robot finished shredding the poor moleys that hadn't stood a chance. He opened the door and stepped out in front of the robot with a primed hand grenade in his hand, just in case.

"Command override, code Alpha Zulu seven three Tango eight niner one niner, initiate." The robot froze for a few seconds while it processed the command. JJ was sweating even inside the climate controlled power armor. He knew he would only have a slim chance at surviving if the code was not accepted. JJ breathed a sigh of relief when the missiles and rotary gun on the robot retracted and the robot responded. "Command override code accepted. What are your orders?"

JJ motioned toward the SUV. "Standby until I finish collecting resources from the shed then follow me." The sentrybot rolled to the back of the SUV and stopped. "Acknowledged." Was all it said. Once the useful scrap was loaded into the SUV, JJ got in and rolled out toward home with the sentrybot following behind like a little puppy. A little puppy with rotary cannon and rotary missile launcher but a little puppy none the less.

Not long after leaving the robot disposal yard, JJ spots something through the trees. JJ stops the SUV and hurriedly climbs into the back and into his power armor. As he steps out of the back and moves to investigate what he saw, the sentrybot rolls up behind him and follows.

JJ thinks for a little bit then turns to the sentrybot. "Stay and guard the truck. No one is to approach except myself and Dogmeat here until further notice." The sentrybot stops and reverses direction to the truck where it begins a slow circle around it. "Acknowledged."

As JJ and Dogmeat approach the area where he saw something, he hears a weird grunt. He stops and searches for the source of the sound. Dogmeat is growling and looking to his right. JJ lifts the .308 and scans the edge of a small ridge to their right. He spots the source and squeezes the trigger, dropping the radstag in its tracks.

He stands up and moves toward the downed stag when a second one charges over the edge of the ridge and barrels right into JJ. The radstag falls backward with one of its heads hanging limply. It tries to stagger up but Dogmeat is on it with his jaws on the throat of the still conscious head. With two radstags dead and a third running for its life away from JJ and Dogmeat, JJ turns back to what he spotted earlier. He finds a power armor frame with a chest piece and a left and right leg. JJ smiles and heads back to the SUV and stows his power armor in the back again. Then he removes the fusion core from his armor and goes to the partial suit.

Amazingly, this suit powers right up as soon as the fusion core is installed. JJ gets in the suit and walks it back to the truck then loads it next to his suit. "Wow, that's a lot of weight in there. We'll have to take it easy going back Dogmeat." Dogmeat cocks his head to the side and barks happily at JJ. JJ turns to the sentrybot. "Ok, stay alert and continue to follow the truck. Approach is allowed by anyone unless I tell you different." The sentrybot moved to the back of the SUV. "Acknowledged."

JJ didn't have any more problems getting home. When he approached the gate, he could see the stunned look on Preston's face. He stopped the SUV and walked up to the gate. "You gonna let me in or just stand there and gawk?" He teased Preston.

Garvey hurried down from the tower and opened the gate. JJ decided to let him off the hook. "I took care of those Raiders that were giving that settlement trouble. They've decided to join our cause. The SUV was a bonus as the Raiders were basing out of the old Corvega plant. It was on the assembly floor almost complete so I finished it. The sentrybot accepted my command override code from before the war. I figured it would really help boost the security of this place."

Preston just smiled. "That's great news. We'll take back the commonwealth one settlement at a time. Here, you might want one of these. It will help signal any Minutemen in the area to come to your aid if needed. It might not be much use now but as more and more settlements join the cause, it will become more useful. And don't worry, I'll be right there by your side, General."

JJ shook his head. "I'm no General, Preston. I made it to Colonel before I retired but that's as far as I went." Preston just smiled and continued. "The leader of the Minutemen has always held the rank of General. And the best thing about being the last Minuteman is there's no one to argue with me when I say you're the new General."

JJ chuckled and clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Alright Garvey, I'll do it. Now let's get this stuff offloaded and let me get a bath. I'm wore out and just want to sleep for a week." Preston closed the gate behind JJ and the sentrybot.

JJ pointed everyone in the town out to the sentrybot and had it record everyone so it knew who was supposed to be there. He also added Preston to the command acceptance for the sentrybot so Preston could issue directives as well. With that done JJ set the bot to sentry and sent it off patrolling the community. He then unloaded the SUV, heated him a tub full of bath water, bathed, ate, and crashed out for the night. Tomorrow would be the start of another adventure and JJ had plans pouring through his head.

 **First installment on my new series. I know I promised to finish up the others but I just can't make anything work there. I'll do my best to at least get Assuming the Mantle finished but I won't make any promises. This one is easy as I can log into the game for any inspiration I need. Well enjoy and I'll get more started soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**J.S.F. Northern Command: Glad you like it and you might say mine is a self insert but I changed the rank and name of the main character. I'm about to retire after 30 years 2 months and 29 days in the U.S. Army.**

 **Kingdark: I only followed the dialogue somewhat to establish a solid platform for the story, it will change more as it progresses. The character was a Colonel in the Special Forces. They are usually pretty handy with a number of things to include fixing their own vehicles as sometimes they are way behind enemy lines and must fend for themselves. I will get more into JJ's background as the story progresses.**

 **Sanctuary Hills**

 **Next Morning after JJ returns**

 **from Tenpines**

JJ rolled over in his bed and stared for a few seconds at the barely recognizable wedding picture on the wall. "I miss you honey." He said softly before crawling out of bed. "Man what I wouldn't give for a cup of Codsworth's coffee right now. I'll have to see if I can find any Chicory that survived the bombings and radiation on my next trip outside the wire."

He got dressed and went down to the purifier with two five gallon buckets. He poured both, one full bucket and half of the other into his tub. He heated the rest of the water in a large kettle over the community fire pit outside. "I wonder if the hardware store still has any wood cook stoves in it? Guess I need to make a list of stuff to look for on my trips." JJ chuckled to himself.

After his bath and a quick breakfast of molerat chunks, he went to find Garvey. He angled toward the main gate and sure enough, JJ found him in a guard tower overlooking the gate. "Figured I'd find you here. You know Preston, I brought back that sentry bot for a reason. You don't have to stand guard all the time." Garvey smiled and nodded.

"Look, I feel an obligation to protect these people. I feel that I let them down after not protecting them at Quincy." Preston looked a bit ashamed then looked JJ in the eye. "I never told you what happened there did I?" JJ shook his head slightly. "I didn't want to press you after all the shit you went through in Concord. I figured you'd tell me when you were ready." So Preston went into detail about the Quincy Massacre.

JJ let Preston get it off his chest before responding. "When we are strong enough, I'll lead the counter-attack on Quincy myself and teach those traitorous bastards a lesson. When we are done with them, the whole Commonwealth will learn that the Minutemen are truly back and not to be fucked with."

Preston couldn't help but smile. "I knew you were just what the Minutemen needed. But I suspect you have a story too." JJ smiled. "In due time my friend. First, we have work to do. I need to track down more power armor and I want to see if we can level that vertibird on the roof of the museum to see if she is repairable.

This surprised Preston a bit. "It would be great if we could fix her up. It would be nice to have air support. Talk to Sturgis. I haven't found anything he couldn't build or fix. You'll probably find him over by the workbench."

Just as Preston suggested, JJ found Sturgis working on something at the workbench. "Morning Sturgis. What are you working on?" Sturgis stopped what he was doing for a bit and pushed up the goggles he was wearing. "Well, I got to thinking that we needed a way to let people know that Sanctuary Hills was a safe haven. So I've been working on building a signal beacon that will send an automated radio message telling people just that."

JJ nodded in appreciation. "That's a great idea. I actually came looking for you for two reasons. Number one, I need a way to communicate with Sanctuary Hills or any settlement we establish. The flare gun Preston gave me helps, but it's not two-way communication. For effective command and control, we need two-way communication."

Sturgis smiled and walked over to the front door of the storage house. "Well, I've kinda been working on that too. I just need more circuit cards and a power relay." He pointed to a partially torn apart computer terminal. "That is the control terminal for the beacon I'm working on. Once I get the parts I need, I'll be able to use the beacon to send and receive any message I want, right to your pip-boy. Of course it has a limited range so we'll have to figure a way to expand the coverage."

JJ shook his head at the ramifications and remembered the vibration setting the pip-boy had when you received a message on the pip-boy. "Ok, I think I might have an idea on a way to do that. I just have to check out the satellite relay stations around the area and see if any are still intact. If they are, the only thing we'll need to do is raise the dishes and match frequencies. That will boost the signal strength of our beacon." Sturgis' face lit up like a kid on Christmas morning.

"Hot dog that will work!" JJ held up his hand. "Easy now killer, that is dependent on the towers being intact and operational. If they are, all well and good. If they aren't we'll have to try and repair them if possible. The other thing I came to talk to you about was that vertibird on the roof of the museum. I want to see if it's repairable and try and get her airborne if she is."

Again Sturgis' face lit up. "I'd love to help work on her. I've never worked on one before but I should be able to at least tell if she is repairable." JJ nodded. "That's what Preston said, and I quote. "Talk to Sturgis, I haven't found anything he can't build or fix." "

The two of them laughed at that before JJ continued. "We can go look her over in a few minutes if you like. But if we find she is repairable, we'll need to find a few more suits of power armor or rig some type of crane to lift her level. I figure it will take four suits to lift and steady her then one to get her propped on something solid. If we can't find more suits, then the two we have and a crane or pulley system will have to do."

Sturgis was still excited about the prospect of getting to work on a vertibird. "Let's go look her over and go from there." So the two of them and Dogmeat got into the SUV and headed down to Concord.

It only took a few minutes to reach the museum in the SUV, giving Sturgis another idea. "Riding in this thing sure beats the hell out of walking. I wonder if we can get more of these up and running?" JJ couldn't agree more. "I didn't find any others that were even close to being able to be repaired. I found this on the assembly floor of the Corvega plant and all it needed was to finish installing the engine and the fusion core. I'll keep an eye out for more though when I'm outside the wire."

An hour later and they were on their way back to the Hills. JJ was thinking over what they had learned. "Ok, you say the internal electronics are still intact and functional and I didn't find much wrong externally except that right rotor blade and a few patchable holes. Those rotors are made of a tempered alloy. We'll either have to make one ourselves or find another crashed vertibird and hope we can salvage its rotor."

He thought back to the area he found the partial set of power armor. "There was another vertibird crashed near where I found that second set of power armor. But that crash was much worse than this one. That bird was scattered over a fairly large area and in several pieces. I'll have to check it out and hope for the best."

Sturgis perked up even more (if that was possible). "Let's go check it out now. I would like to get started repairing her as soon as possible." JJ laughed and swung the SUV around and headed to the crash site. Neither rotor was intact but Sturgis pulled out some tools and took what was left of each of them apart anyway. "I might be able to piece a working one together from these parts. I'm not sure though but it never hurts to try."

JJ helped him load the dismantled rotors into the SUV then swung by the Air Force satellite station. JJ unlocked the underground bunker and led Sturgis inside. Sturgis was ecstatic at all of the computer equipment in the bunker. "I bet I can find the parts I need to finish the beacon and the control terminal!" JJ laughed. "Yep, that's why I brought you here. The quicker that is online the better off we'll be."

It was nearly dark when JJ and Sturgis made it back to Sanctuary Hills. As they passed the Rocket Station, they both heard gunfire coming from the direction of town. JJ stopped the SUV and immediately jumped into his power armor, as it was still secured in the back. He moved to the small hill just before the bridge and noticed several Raiders firing on the guard tower. Preston was in the tower returning fire and Jun Long was in the other tower firing as well.

JJ rushed toward the bridge at a full sprint and never even slowed down as he approached the Raiders. He simply bum rushed them, killing two on impact and knocking the other sprawling. The Raiders had of course heard him coming but their pistols and rifle were not loaded with armor piercing rounds so the bullets just bounced off of the power armor.

JJ never drew any of his weapons, he simply stomped on the fallen Raider's head with the power armor boot. He could hear the sentry bot firing on something to the East side of the town and let it handle whatever it was as there was still sporadic gunfire coming from the other side of town. JJ headed that way at a full run.

He stuck to the outer edge of the wall and circled the town. Marcy Long was in one of the guard towers on that side firing at two Raiders on the opposite bank of the river. When they saw JJ coming at them in the power armor, they broke and ran. Marcy was able to drop one as he broke cover and JJ ran the other one down easily. The Raider was whimpering and pleading for his life as JJ stripped him of his leather armor and weapons.

JJ grabbed the Raider by the back of his neck and dragged him to the main gate. Once inside the gate, JJ had Preston hold the prisoner while he exited the power armor. Even outside of the armor, the Raider still quaked as JJ approached him. You see, JJ wasn't a small man at all. Although he had lost some size in cryogenic suspension, the weeks of hard work building the wall and the large amount of protein, from eating nothing but meat, had packed the muscle back on him. JJ stood in at six foot six and weighed just under 240 pounds.

He slugged the Raider on the jaw hard, knocking him cold. Preston started to protest but JJ cut him off. "I know what I'm doing Garvey. Remember when I said the Minutemen were not to be fucked with? Well he's going to carry that message out into the Commonwealth." He said as he pointed at the unconscious Raider. He then used an empty tin can to scoop some water from the river which he then threw into the Raider's face. Once the Raider was awake, JJ kicked him in the ribs hard.

"Now you get your sorry ass out of here and make sure you tell anyone you come across that the Minutemen are back. Anyone that has the balls to attack ANY of our settlements will be dealt with using extreme prejudice. In simpler words that you can understand, if you fuck with us, we WILL fuck you up. Now get the hell out of here!" He then kicked the Raider in the ass sending him scrambling out of town with his proverbial tail between his legs.

Preston and Sturgis just stood staring at JJ. Sturgis finally broke the silence. "Whew wee. You don't mess around do you? I don't think I've ever seen anyone so terrified in all my life. I think he actually pissed his pants running across that bridge to get away from you." Preston still hadn't said anything so JJ turned to him.

"Preston, I know you don't approve of what I just did. Trust me, I've had many years of experience dealing with people like him. We called them terrorists back then though. The only message they truly understand is violence. He'll get the message out that the Minutemen are back and we mean business again. We just have to keep spreading the word that our intentions are good but we won't tolerate any shit from the likes of him." Preston was thoughtful for a bit. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I've just never seen a General act like that."

JJ cracked a smile. "Well, I wasn't always an officer. I grew up on a small farm in Oklahoma before enlisting in the Army. I used the college fund from the Army to get a degree before using the Green to Gold program and becoming an officer. I'll tell you the whole story and how I ended up here one day." He then turned to Sturgis. "Well, let's get this stuff unloaded so you can finish up that beacon and control terminal."

It didn't take Sturgis long to finish up the beacon and terminal. There were enough spare parts left over for him to build a generator more powerful than the one JJ had built, to handle the extra demand for power. JJ suggested connecting the two in parallel to add even more power. While Sturgis had been working on that, JJ had searched all of the Raider's bodies for anything useful.

It had been a three pronged attack that would have wiped the town out had it not been for the wall and towers built by JJ and Codsworth. Still JJ was worried as the Raiders had only been armed with a few rifles and pistols. He knew that sooner or later, someone would come at them with heavier firepower so he went to Sturgis again to brainstorm together.

"Well, we can build some automated turrets like the ones you ran across at the Corvega plant. But we'll need more components and power than we have now." JJ nodded. "I agree so I guess I'll head out again first thing in the morning and see what I can scrounge up. I've been thinking about heading over to the old Saugus Ironworks and seeing if it is operational or at least repairable. But that's quite a drive and I'm not sure what's in between here and there."

Sturgis looked at JJ. "Well, that's a little ways North of Quincy and that place is loaded with Gunners. In between there are Super Mutants, more feral ghouls, and Raiders. It ain't a pretty sight." JJ shrugged. "Well, we'll just have to recruit more people to the Minutemen and go from there I guess. Gonna be a long haul and I still need to find my son and the bastard that killed my wife then stole Shaun but from what I've seen it's doable." With that, JJ headed home and to bed.

The next morning, JJ woke to Preston knocking on his door. Codsworth answered the door and Preston was just stepping inside when JJ entered the room. "Morning General, we have a small situation." JJ smiled and shook his head. "You know, it's still gonna take some getting used to being called General. What's the situation?"

Preston smiled a bit then answered. "Well, the beacon Sturgis built has brought us some refugees. We have four at the main gate, three women and a man." JJ nodded. "Ok, I'll be down as soon as I get dressed." Preston nodded. "Ok General, I'll hold them at my place until you get there." Preston had taken up residence in the house next to the gate.

JJ only took a few minutes to get dressed. He reminded himself to look for Chicory when he left the gate later and then made his way to Preston's house. He found the four refugees sitting in Preston's living room with the sentry bot standing guard outside. "How are you four doing?" He asked when he entered the room. The man stood and shook his hand. "We're not doing too bad, thank you for asking. We heard your beacon and came to see if it was real."

JJ smiled. "Oh it's real alright. But to live here or any of our settlements, you'll have to pull your fair share of the work. We aren't running a charity here." One of the women spoke up. "We wouldn't have it any other way and just wanted to thank you for the opportunity."

She then pointed to the other two women and the man. "I'm Tina, for myself, I am a fair hand with crops. Ginger is a whiz at making clothes. Mary here is one of the finest cooks you'll ever find. And Mickey is one of the best shots I have ever seen." JJ nodded his head thinking. _"I still doubt anyone left in the Commonwealth could match the guys on my old team shot for shot."_ But he kept that to himself.

"That's good, welcome to the community. Tina, you'll find plenty of open ground, to plant your crops, just to the North of this house. It was a playground back before the war but we've removed the broken play sets that were there. It's adjacent to the river but on high enough ground that you won't have to worry about flooding. Preston, if you want to take Mickey to the Armory and let him have his choice of weapons, you can start training up our newest Minuteman." Preston cracked a grin from ear to ear. "I'd be happy to Sir."

JJ turned back to the other two women. "Ginger, you'll find an operational armor workbench, complete with a sewing machine next to the house we are using for storage. And last but not least, Mary, we only have an outdoor fire pit for cooking at the moment. I do plan on trying to find a place that might still have some wood stoves in it. Until then, the fire pit is all we have."

With the four new settlers taken care of, JJ packed for another round of scouting. When he was ready, he stopped by where Preston and Mick were talking. "Hey Mick, do you mind if I call you Mick?" When Mick said he didn't, JJ continued. "Why don't you ride out with me so we can get to know each other better. I'm heading out to scout a couple of places near here." Mick agreed and ran off to grab a couple of things. He was back five minutes later and the two of them, along with Dogmeat, rolled out the gate.

JJ turned Southeast onto the road that led passed the Corvega plant but didn't go quite that far. He was passing the outer edge of Concord when a feral ghoul came running at them from an old cabin. JJ swerved and ran it down with the SUV then quickly jumped into his power armor. "Mick, stay in the truck just in case there are more. I'm going to check out that cabin." Mick did as he was told and sat in the truck while JJ and Dogmeat moved out.

In the cabin was another feral and several more rose up from the grass and rushed JJ. Dogmeat growled and tore into one while JJ simply smashed the other's heads. He found a trap door in the cabin and motioned for Mick to join him. "We need to clear the bunker or whatever is down there. Stay behind me and let me deal with anymore ferals with the power armor." He opened the trap door and jumped down the hole. Mick climbed down behind him.

As JJ moved down the short hallway leading to a metal door, the Geiger counter in the suit began showing radiation. "Mick back off, I'm reading quite a bit of radiation. Stay near the ladder and watch my back." Mick quickly backed toward the ladder. "Yes Sir General. I'll stay right here and guard your back." JJ smiled inside the helmet and continued to the door. He picked the lock and was immediately jumped by another feral, that was inside the room, as soon as the door opened. He caught it with his right hand and snapped it's neck with a twist of his wrist.

He scanned the room seeing several barrels of nuclear waste and a disassembled mininuke. There was very little of value in the small room save a few tools, a still working terminal, and the mininuke.

He read through the terminal quickly and shook his head. The former occupant had thought the power line tower outside of his cabin was built so the government could use mind control on people. JJ quickly packed up anything of value and closed the door behind him. He would send a squad out with Codsworth, when they recruited more people, to clean up the waste and bodies.

JJ and Mick climbed back up the ladder and loaded what they could find around the cabin into the SUV. JJ then exited the power armor, secured it in the back of the SUV, and crawled back behind the steering wheel. Not far down the road, they ran into a woman leading a Brahmin loaded with junk. JJ talked with her for a little bit and she was happy to see another settlement start up that she could trade with.

They said good-bye to Carla and continued down the road a bit until they came to the Drumlin Diner JJ and his wife used to eat at before the bombs fell. He got out and approached the front of the diner. He overheard a man standing in front yelling something about owing him money. "Mick, move over to the right and slightly behind me, I'll see if I can figure out what's going on."

JJ approached the two standing in front of the diner. The man turned toward him and pointed his pistol at JJ. "Whoa there, this ain't none of your concern." JJ moved his right hand closer to his 10mm. "I just stopped to offer my services as a mediator. But if you don't stop waving that gun in my face, I won't need to mediate anything."

The man took the hint and lowered his gun, signaling the woman with him to do the same. "Ok, easy now. We just want what is owed to us. That junky son of hers owes me a ton of caps." JJ turned to the woman in the diner. "What does your son owe him caps for?" The woman sounded plenty angry when she answered. "That chem dealing bastard sold a bunch of jet to my son and got him hooked. We ain't paying that asshole one single cap!"

JJ bristled at learning the man was a chem dealer. "You sold drugs to that boy knowing he would get hooked? You know, I hated drug dealers before the war and now afterwards, I can do something I always wanted to do then."

With those words, JJ drew both pistols and shot both chem dealers straight in the face. "One more mess cleaned up by the Minutemen." JJ said as he turned to the woman. "Now you won't have to deal with them anymore. I hate drug dealers and now the Minutemen are back to clean that kind of shitbag out of the Commonwealth."

The woman breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you. Now I can get my boy cleaned up without Wolfgang around to slip him chems behind my back. Here, this is for you and I'll cut you a discount on any trading you want to do." She handed JJ a handful of caps before moving back into the store. JJ took anything of value from the two dead chem dealers and loaded their bodies in the truck to bury away from the store.

After burying the bodies, he drove back to the Rocket Station and parked the SUV inside the garage there. "Mick, go ahead and head back to the Hills. (That's what JJ had been calling Sanctuary Hills for short). I'm going to do a little more scouting in the power armor. Let Preston know I'll be back in a couple of hours and to send me a message if anything happens." Mick smiled and happily headed back to town.

JJ headed West from the station toward a farm that Carla had told him about. He cleared the small ridge and heard a buzzing that told him there was a Bloat Fly nearby. Dogmeat growled and lunged at the fly and JJ took out his baton and killed a second fly. "God these things are disgusting." JJ said to himself as he wiped the maggot goop from the suit. He then continued on down to the Abernathy farm.

An older man saw him coming and approached with a rifle in his hands. "That's far enough. We're a peaceful farm but we are armed." JJ stopped and kept his hands in plain sight. "Relax, I just wanted to swing by and introduce myself. I'm General Jonathan Jones, JJ to my friends. I'm the new leader of the Minutemen. We are rebuilding from the ground up and I wanted to see if you folks needed anything."

The older man lowered his rifle. "Hell that's great news, I'm Blake Abernathy. I'm sure glad to hear you guys are back. Damn Raiders won't leave us alone. A few months ago, a group hit us and my daughter Mary tried to stand up to them. The bastards just shot her down and took the locket my mother had given her."

JJ thought back to the locket he found in the toolbox at Olivia Station. "Is this the locket? I took care of a group of Raiders not long ago and found this." Blake almost broke into tears. "That's my Mary's locket. Thank you. The Minutemen can count on our support anytime they need it." He took the locket and handed JJ a handful of caps then went to show his wife. JJ looked over the place and knew it needed a lot of work to make it defensible. "Looks like we're gonna need more resources."

X

 **Three months later**

JJ and the Minutemen had expanded their ranks to the point they had fortified several settlements. They built a small settlement based out of the Rocket Station, the Abernathy farm, the Starlight drive in theater, the old Sunshine Tidings co-op, and of course Tenpines Bluff. JJ had also stationed a garrison at the Olivia satellite station and the Corvega Assembly Plant.

JJ, Preston, and the Minutemen in training had cleared all of the feral ghouls out of Lexington and the shipping company to the West of the Abernathy farm. JJ had also discovered a few old Military Check points and with Sturgis' help, he had gotten several of the Armored Personnel Carriers and three more suits of power armor operational.

That gave the Minutemen five complete suits of power armor as JJ had brought back the arms, that the second suit was missing, from the Raider Leader he killed in Lexington. Sturgis had cut the wire cages from them before refurbishing them. All five suits were painted in Minutemen colors with the crossed rifles emblem on the torso.

Sturgis had finished piecing together the rotor to replace the damaged one on the vertibird so JJ, Sturgis, Preston, and two more Minutemen were now on the roof of the museum. All five of them were in power armor so two of them steadied the vertibird, two pulled the chain on the pulley attached to the A-frame, and Sturgis placed concrete blocks under it until it sat basically level. Sturgis had spent several weeks building the A-frame and pulley system while collecting the things they needed to begin the repairs. Once the vertibird was stable, Sturgis went to work on her.

Preston motioned JJ over to the side. "General, I've been thinking. The Minutemen are growing and we need to establish a more permanent headquarters. Back before I joined, Minutemen HQ was an old fort on the coast." JJ nodded. "I remember an old fort out there from the Revolutionary War called Fort Independence." Preston smiled.

"Yes Sir, that would be it. We've always just called it the Castle. Well that was our HQ until the Minutemen were driven out by what some people called a sea monster. It was before my time so I can't say for sure but I think we need to retake it."

JJ thought silently for a bit. "Well, it would be a logistical nightmare to try and take it right now. If we can get the vertibird working, we can at least scout the place then go from there." Preston turned and looked back to where Sturgis was working on replacing the damaged rotor with the one he had pieced together.

"Who's going to fly it?" Preston asked. JJ smiled. "I've flown them a few times. Mostly I jumped out of them. **B** ut one of our pilots did teach me the basics and let me take a few turns at the stick. I have never flown one in combat but I have taken off, flown around a bit, and landed one. Granted the take-off and landing were a bit rough and I wouldn't want to try landing on a building but I think I can get her into the air off of one." JJ laughed a bit at his poor joke.

Just then JJ's pip-boy buzzed. He looked down at the message then back up at Preston. "Do you feel like a little field trip? We just had a robot like Codsworth drop off a message that they need some help at Greygarden." JJ could hear the excitement in his friend's voice. "Sure, let's go check it out."

JJ pulled off his helmet for a bit. "Sturgis, Preston and I are heading to Greygarden to see what they need. Thomas, you and Jerry stay here and pull security for Sturgis while he works on this bird. We'll send a message back if we need help." Sturgis just waved and kept working on the vertibird. "Yes Sir!" Came from Thomas and Jerry at the same time. JJ grinned at Preston before he replaced his helmet. "Shall we?" Before both jumped from the roof to land in the street below with a loud crunch.

Once both suits of power armor were secure in the back of one of the refurbished APC's, JJ hopped into the driver's hatch. "It still feels funny driving one of these. It had been years even before the bombs fell since I had last driven one." He drove with the hatch open and Preston hanging out of the Commanders hatch.

It took a little over an hour before they finally made it to Greygarden. As JJ killed the engine, several of the robots drifted toward them. One even whistled ( or played a recording of a whistle). "I haven't seen one of these operational since before the war." The Green painted one said. A white painted robot moved to the forefront of the robotic crowd.

"Welcome to Greygarden Darling." The white one said in a distinct female voice. JJ approached her. "Thank you. I'm General Jones, your messenger said something about needing our help?" Over the slight whir of motors, Supervisor White told him about their water problem. Preston shrugged when JJ looked his way so JJ accepted. "No problem, we'll head down that way and see what we can do to get it fixed."

They left the APC at Greygarden and approached the Weston water plant on foot. Both men were in full power armor and scanning the plant from the ridge. "I count at least seven Super Mutants and a Mutant Hound. That one over by the plant door is carrying a mininuke." Preston hissed at hearing that. "The mutants have taken a page from the suicide bombers of old but now they use a mininuke. I've seen them take out Raiders in full scavenged power armor."

JJ only took a couple of seconds to decide. "Move further up the hill and cover me. I'm going to give them a wakeup call." Preston moved about 100 yards further to the right and took an overwatch position covering JJ who then unslung his .308 sniper rifle.

JJ eased a little further forward to get a good rest. He then centered the crosshairs on the mininuke the mutant was carrying and squeezed the trigger. He closed his eyes against the bright flash and explosion as the suicide bomber and the other mutant he was standing near were vaporized.

Even though he was using a suppressor, JJ shifted from the place he had fired the first shot from, just in case. It was a good thing he did as the mutant hound rushed to spot he had fired from. One of the mutants watched the direction the hound was headed and fired a missile to where he thought the shot had came from.

JJ didn't waste any time putting a slug through that mutants head. Again the hound zeroed in on where the shot had come from but again, JJ had already shifted to a new position. As the hound sniffed around JJ fired another shot into the hound this time. The round struck the hound on the head and knocked it down in a spray of blood. JJ jacked another shell into the chamber and fired again when he saw the hound getting back up.

"Damn thing must have a skull made of iron!" JJ said as the second shot failed to kill it as well. Preston watched as the hound shook his head and charged JJ. A full strength shot from his laser musket put a quick end to the hound's life. By now the other Super Mutants knew the general area they were in and began peppering the small hill with gunfire.

JJ shot and killed three more, leaving one left that Preston took out. Both men moved down to the water plant and searched the outer area for anything useful. They consolidated everything useful on the small ridge they had been firing from before going into the plant.

They killed a large number of mirelurks and destroyed several machinegun turrets before they were able to get the water drained and the main pump restarted. JJ smashed any mirelurk eggs they found but did keep a couple to cook and see how they tasted. After JJ told Supervisor White about their success, he sent a message to the Hills to have a platoon of Minutemen set up a garrison at Greygarden and secure the water plant as well.

 **X**

 **The Hills a few days after**

 **helping Greygarden**

Preston Garvey and JJ were sitting at a table down by the river talking and drinking some Chicory coffee. "Preston, I think the Hills and the other settlements we've secured, are strong enough for me to continue my search for my son."

Mamma Murphy wasn't far from them, helping Tina nurture some carrots, mutfruit, razorgrain, tatos, and corn they had brought in from some of the other settlements. She looked up at JJ. "I don't need the sight to tell you where the best place for you to start is. The Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth, Diamond City." She said then went back to watering the plants.

Preston smiled and shook his head. "Here General, I'll mark it on your pip-boy map. It's the largest settlement in the Commonwealth. Not sure who started it but they built it inside the old baseball stadium." JJ's eyes lit up. "Someone built a settlement inside Fenway Park?" Preston shrugged. "If that's what the stadium was called before the war then yeah, they built a town inside of it."

Sturgis was still working on the vertibird so JJ took Dogmeat, a five man fire team of Minutemen, and loaded up on the APC before heading out to Diamond City.

On the way to Diamond City, JJ and his team stopped at several check points that the Minutemen had set up, to see how they were doing. The Minutemen were now in control of the entire Northwestern corner of what used to be Boston. They controlled everything from Vault 111 to the Federal Stockpile bunker in the South, to Taffington Boathouse in the East, to Oberland Station just South of the river.

Just before they reached Diamond City, JJ saw the sign for Hardware Town. There was also a woman standing near it saying something about her friend being hurt. JJ stopped the APC and donned his power armor. He turned to the team leader. "Give me one of your men and the rest stay here and secure the vehicle. Watch yourselves, something smells fishy about this."

True to his gut, the instant JJ got inside, the woman ducked through some shelves and disappeared toward the back of the store. JJ turned slightly to the Minuteman with him. "Hold back just a bit behind me. If this is an ambush, let me take the brunt of the attack with the armor." The young private nodded and slid a little behind JJ and slightly to his left.

Dogmeat growled real low in the back of his throat and JJ knew there was an ambush set up in the back of the store. He smiled wickedly to himself. "Get 'em boy. Let's show these assholes it's bad business to lie to and then try to ambush the Minutemen." JJ said softly. Dogmeat shot forward and jumped down a place where the floor had collapsed and JJ could hear the surprised yelps of the Raiders that were waiting in ambush.

With the ambush broken and the Raider's focusing their attention on Dogmeat, JJ rushed forward and hit the two surprised Raiders from behind. The woman had also thrown on a leather chest plate and picked up a pipe pistol. JJ drew both pistols and shot one male Raider in the head while Dogmeat tore out the throat of the second.

JJ then shot the woman through the leg and in the hand that she was holding the pipe pistol with. She dropped her pistol and fell to the ground screaming in pain. JJ stepped forward and put the muzzle of one pistol against the wound in her leg and pressed down hard causing her to scream in even more pain. He wasn't paying much attention to her though as he was focusing on the back door of the store. He motioned to the Private to take aim at the door.

As he suspected, there were more Raiders waiting outside. The back door was jerked open and a man's silhouette filled the doorway. The Private shot him with his laser musket and JJ fired his other pistol passed the falling Raider to strike a second one in the throat. A third Raider, seeing both of his friends killed, turned and ran with Dogmeat hot on his tail.

JJ heard the Raider that ran, scream as Dogmeat caught up with him. JJ then turned his attention back to the female Raider that was whimpering under his pistol barrel. "Please don't hurt me anymore?" She begged. JJ looked down at her in utter disgust.

"How many of your victims begged the same from you before you and your gang robbed and killed them? How many innocent people have you and your gang murdered?" The Raider saw her pleading would do no good so she switched her tune. "Fuck you asshole. This is the wasteland and it's all about survival of the fittest out here. The weak perish and the strong rule." JJ removed the power armor helmet so she could see his eyes.

"I'm glad you feel that way. You just made my point for me." He could see the terror in her eyes. "So here is what you are going to do for me. You are going to carry the message that the Minutemen are back and if any raiders, gunners, super mutants and the like want to live, they will leave the Commonwealth and never return. If they are stupid enough to stay or come back, I will use what's left of their body as fertilizer for my crops."

With those dire words, JJ backhanded her hard enough to knock her unconscious. He then used a stimpack to heal her bullet wounds and tied her up. After a quick search of the store showed there were no more Raiders hiding, JJ sent the Private out to have the others bring the APC to the loading dock. Once the APC was at the loading dock, JJ used the power armor to lift a couple of cast iron cook stoves into the back of it before cutting the female Raider's bonds and finishing the rest of the trip to Diamond City.

It didn't take long to make it to the main gate of Diamond City and JJ let the team leader workout a rotation so each member of his fire team could get a chance to visit the Great Green Jewel of the Commonwealth. He smiled to himself as he reflected on having done the same thing with his team in Alaska before the bombs fell when they returned to the rear after several weeks of operations outside the wire.

Once inside, JJ asked around to see if anyone might be able to assist in his search for Shaun. He got a couple of whistles from guards admiring his power armor and a young girl asked to pet Dogmeat who lapped up the attention happily. JJ was eventually directed to the office of a Private Investigator named Nick Valentine.

JJ entered the detective agency to find that Nick himself was missing and got directions to the last place he was known to be going to. He thanked Nick's assistant, Ellie and made his way back to the APC. "Well Sergeant, you boys up for a little spelunking in an old prewar vault?" JJ had set up the rank structure for the Minutemen like it had been in the US Army before the bombs. The Sergeant just grinned from ear to ear before snapping off a sharp salute. "We're with you General. Let's go get some bad guys."

Once they arrived in the Boston Commons, JJ left one private with the APC to monitor the radio. He gave strict orders to button up and not to open the hatch for anyone except JJ or one of his team. JJ also told him that if they weren't back in six hours, to radio for reinforcements and clear the vault.

The weeks of drilling his Minutemen paid off in spades as JJ and the fire team wiped out any opposition they encountered in the unfinished vault. Once they had freed Nick and convinced the girl Nick had been looking for to go back home, JJ and his team left the vault with Nick.

JJ looked over at Nick after they climbed up the service ladder. "Nick, it seems you and Skinny Malone had a history. I hope you don't hold it against me that I plan on ordering that vault cleaned out and taken over by my Minutemen. But that's exactly what I'm going to do. We are cleaning up the Commonwealth one piece at a time."

Nick shook his head as he lit up a cigarette. "No, no I don't. Even if Skinny and I did have history, the Commonwealth needs cleaning up. People like Skinny and his ilk have terrorized the good people of the Commonwealth for far too long."

Nick took a drag off his cigarette and looked up at the stars. "Meet me back at my office and we'll see what we can do about finding your son." JJ had given him the quick rundown after opening the door to room Nick was locked in.

 **X**

 **An Hour Later**

 **Entrance to Diamond City**

JJ stepped out of the APC and turned to the Sergeant. "Let me get the power armor out then you guys head back to the Hills for some down time. I'll make it back that way in the armor after I talk with Nick." The Sergeant nodded. "Roger General, we'll head on back and I'll let Colonel Preston know you'll be in later."

JJ made his way through the front gate and into the market area. A lovely brunette (that reminded JJ of his wife), wearing a newsboy hat and red leather trench coat, approached him. "Hey Blue, mind if I ask you a few questions?" JJ looked her over. "I'm a bit busy right now." He said. So she fell in step beside him.

"I know you are looking for your son and I thought that if you didn't mind, I'd follow along if you answered a few questions." JJ answered her questions as she followed him to Nick's office. At Nick's office, JJ got a lead that led him and Nick to breaking into a mercenary named Kellogg's home.

After a search of the home, Dogmeat led JJ and Piper out of Diamond City following the scent of a man JJ dearly wants to find. Dogmeat lost the scent with all of the foot traffic in and around Diamond City, so JJ decided to lead Dogmeat on an ever expanding circle around the city until he was able to finally pick up the scent again.

Along the trail, they found several spots where a fight had taken place. Bloody rags discarded at a couple of the scenes, helped strengthen the scent for Dogmeat. As they continued further to the Southwest, JJ realized he wasn't going to make it back to the Hills tonight. He paused for a few seconds to send a message over his pip-boy to Preston letting him know. As he hit send, he heard Piper yelling and shots being fired. He sprinted on after Dogmeat and Piper only to find a large Yao Gui trying to pin Dogmeat down.

Piper was pumping round after round from her 10mm into the Yao Gui to no apparent effect. JJ just smiled to himself as he lowered his head, slamming into the Yao Gui with all the force the servos in the Power Armor could muster. He crushed the mutated bear between himself and a large tree with a satisfying crunch of bones.

Piper just stood and stared at JJ in total shock. "You know, I've seen a lot of things throughout my life, but never have I seen a Yao Gui so utterly destroyed without a missile launcher or something as equally powerful."

JJ removed his helmet and smiled at her. "In the Special Forces, we learned to use the power armor as a weapon itself. Works very well as you can see. Though it is the first time I ever tried that on something like this." He said as he looked down at the dead bear. "Well, we need to get back on the trail, it'll be dark soon."

JJ checked Dogmeat out to make sure he wasn't hurt. After seeing Dogmeat had been fast enough to stay out of the Yao Gui's reach, he donned the helmet and let Dogmeat have another sniff of the bloody rag he had brought along from the last place they stopped. "Ok boy, let's get back on that son of a bitches trail."

After a little over an hour later and killing several feral ghouls, JJ stopped and looked around. "We're getting close to an old Army installation called Fort Hagen. He can't be headed there could he?" Piper shrugged. "Well, if he is working for the Institute, it would make some sense that he might be."

JJ chuckled. "If he is, he will be in for a real surprise once I get inside." Piper looked at him in confusion. He couldn't help but chuckle again. "If that's where he's headed, you'll see what I mean when we get there."

Thirty minutes later, Dogmeat ran up the steps to the main entrance of Fort Hagen. JJ grinned under his helmet and followed his dog to a barricaded door. "Well shit, I knew that was too good to ask for. Oh well, there should be a side entrance through the parking garage. Stay behind me and stick close to the wall so you'll be protected from the automated turrets." Piper looked at JJ curiously but did as he suggested.

After they were in the parking garage and out of the turrets line of fire, Piper couldn't contain her curiosity any longer. "Ok Blue, what gives? You seem to be very familiar with this facility." JJ leaned against an old car and removed his helmet.

"This was my last command before I retired. The commander that took my place had been my Executive Officer (XO for short). We had been through a lot together so we were more like Brothers than just friends. He was still the Commander here on the day the bombs fell so I'm betting his Command Override codes, which I happen to know, will still work. If Kellogg has taken refuge in here, he's in for a very nasty surprise."

Piper couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Oh Blue, you're positively evil. This should be so much fun. Well, what are you waiting for? Let's get this circus back on the road." She said with a distinct twinkle in her eye. JJ chuckled and refastened the helmet. "Yes Ma'am!"

Upon entering the garage access door into Fort Hagen proper, JJ instantly realized the place was occupied by more than just Kellogg as he heard the distinct voice of a Synth asking if anyone was present. He had only ran across two of them near Malden Station so far in his travels. He instantly brought his M-71 to his shoulder and moved forward as silently as he could in power armor.

JJ scanned the room slowly and held his breath for a couple of seconds so he could hear a little better. He heard the footsteps of what he judged to be a Gen 1 or maybe Gen 2 Synth. He spotted it looking through a doorway with its back to him.

He raised the rifle a bit higher and centered the crosshairs on the base Synth's skull before squeezing the trigger. The high velocity, armor piercing round did its job as it severed what would have been the spinal column on a human. The Synth never made a sound as it sparked and fell face down on the floor.

JJ, Piper, and Dogmeat killed several more Gen 1 and 2 Synths as they made their way lower into the facility. JJ was looking for a working command terminal but hadn't found one yet. The first working terminal he came across was at the security post just outside of the main elevator. He had to disarm a mine and hide behind a column as he entered his friend's Command Override Codes into the system.

The turret that had forced him to hide behind the column ceased firing and went into reset mode as the codes were accepted. "Hot damn, they still work!" JJ said excitedly. "Piper, come over here and stand next to me. You too Boy, come here so the turret's bioscanner can log you into the system as friendly and a non-target."

Piper nervously did as she was asked and was thankful the turret didn't blast her into goo. Dogmeat just sat there on his haunches beside JJ as the turret scanned and logged all three of them in as friendlies.

"Now for that surprise I was telling you about. I will set all other biosigns as hostile so the turrets all over the facility will target them. I programmed the turrets to only fire on a hostile target that is carrying a weapon though, as I don't want to take a chance on one of them shooting at Shaun if he's here."

Piper looked up. "But what if they kill Kellogg before you can question him?" JJ turned and walked toward the elevator. "I have a feeling he will be in the command bunker which is outside of the firing arc of the turrets or at least it used to be. As far as I know, it still is."

They all three got into the elevator for a ride to the lower levels of the base. Kellogg must have tied into the base security system enough to monitor the cameras at the least. He started talking trash to JJ as he, Piper, and Dogmeat fought their way through a dozen or more Synths before they reached the armory which wasn't far off the path leading to the Command and Control (CnC) bunker.

To say that Kellogg was surprised when JJ opened the door and walked into the bunker was an understatement to say the least. "Ok, so you've made it here. I'm actually surprised you made it this far. Hell, I figured that if you managed to get out of that icebox, the Commonwealth would chew you up like jerky." He ordered the Synths in the room to stand down.

JJ pulled the helmet off and looked Kellogg in the eye. "You have no idea at all who I am. I was killing dirtbags like you before your great, great, grandfather was a thought in his Dad's mind. Your employer failed to properly brief you on whose family you were fucking with. You see Kellogg, I am the Soldier known as the Hero of Anchorage. My Special Forces team and I were the ones that made it possible to defeat the Chinese invasion of Alaska. And this?"

He motioned around him. "This was my last Command when I retired from the US Army BEFORE the bombs fell..."

He paused for effect and JJ could see the realization dawn on Kellogg as he was talking but he continued to slowly walk toward him. "Now, before I kill you, you are going to tell me where my son is"

Kellogg knew in the back of his mind that he had bitten off way more than he could chew and that was simply something he was not accustomed to. "Look, your son's not here. What's that old saying? So close but yet so very far away. Or something like that. Despite being a bit older than you thought, he is safe and well taken care of, at the Institute."

JJ was almost within arm's reach of Kellogg. "You're going to take me to him now, or I swear on all that is holy, you'll die most painfully, right here and right now."

Kellogg tried to keep up his bravado and chuckled. "We both know how this has to end." With that he activated a stealth boy and drew his pistol. JJ had been ready for something of that sort so he lunged forward before Kellogg was fully phased out and grabbed him by the throat.

With his other hand he drew one of his 10mm's and began shooting at the two Synths standing in the room as well. With a hard twist of his wrist, JJ snapped Kellogg's neck. He dropped the lifeless body and reached for his second 10mm. He turned toward the second Synth only to find that Dogmeat had it by the throat and Piper was shooting into its head.

JJ searched the room for anything useful before searching Kellogg as well, finding several cybernetic components on wired into Kellogg. He went to the terminal on what had been his, then his friends desk in the command bunker and sat down in front of it. He fed the Command Override Codes into the terminal and as it flashed and rebooted he sighed and leaned back while he waited. With the codes accepted, JJ now had administrator access to the terminal allowing him to access all of the files in it.

JJ read through Kellogg's entries then downloaded the entire contents of the harddrive onto a holotape. There were some files he earmarked from not long after the bombs fell that he wanted to sort through but that would be for later. Right now he had to find his son. But Fort Hagen was too valuable a prize to just leave empty so he sent a message to Preston telling him to round up a small garrison to occupy and fortify the place.

Once he got the reply that Preston was on his way with twenty Minutemen, JJ stood and headed for the elevator. "Well Piper, how about we head to the roof and wait for them out there. I need some fresh air." He moved the bodies of Kellogg and the Synths to an empty room and then the three of them used the elevator to take them to the roof.

The sight that greeted them was not something either of them were expecting. A large dirigible (airship) was gliding across the sky flanked by several vertibirds. Spotlights were playing across the landscape and loudspeakers were announcing the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steel. JJ stood and watched as the airship and vertibirds continued on toward the Northeast.

"Well, that may complicate things. They have air support and enough space on that blimp to transport at least a couple of battalions of troops." Piper looked at him in confusion, which seemed to be happening a lot since they teamed up. JJ chuckled.

"During my time in the Army, a battalion was anywhere between 350 and 800 Soldiers depending on what type of unit it was. An Infantry Battalion was made up of four line companies, each containing around 162 or so men and a headquarters company. The headquarters company generally had between 75 and 150 Soldiers depending on if it was a Light Infantry Battalion or a Mechanized Battalion."

Piper's mind was blown. "They could have a whole Army on that thing!" JJ couldn't help but chuckle again. "True but we'll need to get scouts out to see if their intentions are for the good of the Commonwealth or if they are here to conquer. Until I know more about their intentions, we'll try and avoid any direct confrontations with them for now." Piper agreed wholeheartedly.

Preston and the platoon of Minutemen arrived about two hours after the airship had made it to the airport and docked at the tower. JJ had kept watch on it and the vertibirds through a powerful set of binoculars he had found in a desk drawer in the fort. JJ had powered down the defensive turrets until he was able to have Preston and the Minutemen Platoon added as Friendlies.

"Ok Preston, I've given you Command Access to the base. You now have access to add more bioscans to the database and control the doors and turrets of the base. Your job will be to get this place cleaned up and fully operational. You are now the Commander of Fort Hagen, congratulations Colonel." Preston returned the salute. "Thank you General, I won't let you down."

JJ lowered his salute and extended his hand. "I know you won't Garvey. You have my complete trust and faith. Use whatever resources you need but if it comes to a fight with that Brotherhood of Steel, we will need every advantage we can get. This base has a lot of prewar tech to offer and a full Command and Control (CnC) bunker. Have a detail bury the bodies in the lower storage room just off the CnC bunker."

Preston shook his friends hand and then with a grim face asked. "Did you find any trace of your son?" JJ shook his head slowly. "No, I didn't find Shaun but I did find the bastard that took him and murdered my wife. Before I killed him, he told me where Shaun had been taken to. Kellogg said he is at the Institute." Preston was visibly shaken. "The Institute? Brother I'm sorry to hear that. The Institute is known as the boogeyman of the Commonwealth. No one knows where they are or how to get to them."

JJ looked his friend in the eye. "I'll find a way Preston. I won't rest until I have my son back." Preston could see the determination in his friend's eyes and hear it in his voice as well. "I hope you do John, I truly hope you do. If you need anything, all you need to do is ask. The Minutemen will have your back no matter what you need."

JJ smiled. "Thanks Preston, that means a lot coming from you. Well, I better get back to Diamond City and see if Valentine has any idea where I should search next. See you later and don't hesitate to send a message if you need anything from me."

With those parting words, JJ rounded up Piper and Dogmeat and headed for Diamond City.

 **Well, here's chapter 2, it let you into a little more of JJ's background and into my way of thinking. I know it stuck to the storyline in the game fairly close but it will diverge more and more as the story continues. This now puts the Minutemen in control of nearly a third of the Commonwealth. More to come. Until the next chapter, continue to read and as always, reviews, whether good or bad, are appreciated.**


	3. Chapter 3

**SUV in route to**

 **Diamond City**

Piper was still thinking about the Brotherhood of Steel (BOS) airship. "Have you ever seen anything like that?" She asked JJ in concern. JJ Smiled. "Piper, you're forgetting where I come from. An airship like that was considered primitive back then. We had jet fighters, bombers, cargo, and passenger planes that circled the world on a daily basis. We had rockets that took men and women out into the solar system. But today, it would be considered very high tech and very useful."

Piper sat in silence thinking how wonderful the old world sounded. They were almost to Diamond City before either spoke again. "I'm going to park the SUV at the loading dock to Hardware Town. There's a squad of Minutemen garrisoned there so it will be safe from Raiders and such."

JJ parked and got a quick sitrep about a small gang of super mutants nearby from the squad leader there. JJ smiled at Piper. "Well, looks like our visit to Nick is going to be delayed a bit. Some super mutants have set up shop right on the route our caravans travel." JJ took one fire team from the squad and moved out to remove the threat to their supply lines.

It didn't take long to reach the area where the super mutants were sitting in ambush positions. There were a couple of Diamond City security guards sizing up the position as JJ and his Minutemen moved in.

It was a short but intense fire fight that resulted in the death of one Minuteman and one of the security guards. Not one super mutant survived the assault and neither did the two mutant hounds. JJ shook his head sadly. "I hate losing good men. I know it happens in war but it's one thing I will never get used to."

He had the fire team carry their fallen comrade back to Hardware Town while he lifted the security guard with ease. It only took a few minutes to make it to Diamond City where JJ turned the body of the dead security guard over to Diamond City Security before continuing on to Nick's office.

After a short talk with Nick about a Doctor in Goodneighbor, JJ sent a message to Sturgis to check on the Vertibird. JJ looked over at Piper. "You know, in the old days, it was so much easier to communicate. I really need to hunt down some radios and finish getting the relay towers up and running." The message came back that the Vertibird was almost ready but not quite.

JJ then sent a message to Preston. The message basically asked him to load Kellogg's body in one of the APC's and meet him at Oberland station since it was roughly halfway between Diamond City and Ft. Hagen.

 **40 minutes later at Oberland Station**

Once JJ explained what he was doing and where he was going, Preston insisted that he and the squad of Minutemen go with JJ and Piper as back-up. "I know you can handle yourself General. But you are going through some really dangerous territory that we haven't cleared yet. You need the extra firepower, trust me."

JJ looked toward Piper who was nodding her head vigorously. "Et tu, Brute?"

Piper put on an innocent look and Preston turned away to hide his smile. "Alright, Garvey. For Piper's sake, mount up and let's get rolling."

Preston and the squad of Minutemen lead the way out of Oberland Station in the APC with JJ, Piper, and Dogmeat following in the SUV. A few miles down the road, a second APC fell in line behind the SUV and JJ just shook his head and grumbled to himself.

Piper couldn't contain herself and burst out laughing. "You aren't used to being disagreed with at all are you?" She asked innocently. JJ shook his head in annoyance once again. "No, it's not that. It's simply that I'm usually the one pulling the stunts Garvey just did. It feels weird to have the shoe on the other foot."

He sighed deeply before continuing. "I'm usually the one sticking it to the man. Now I AM the man. I don't know if I can BE the man, you know?"

Piper cracked up again when she thought over what JJ had just said. "Oh this is going to be so much fun." JJ grumbled under his breath again and kept driving. JJ noticed that Preston was slowing and pulled over next to him.

The back ramp of the APC lowered and the entire squad fanned out around the parked vehicles. "General, we're coming up on a known Super Mutant held facility. It's that tall building over there." He pointed to the skyscraper not too far away. JJ nodded as he looked up at the building. "That is Trinity Tower and all this around us was known as Trinity Plaza."

Just then, JJ could hear the sound of more APC's approaching. He looked toward the sound as Preston grinned at him. "Ah good, it looks like Bravo Company got my message." His grin got even wider as JJ turned back to face him.

"Would you care to enlighten me on just what the hell is going on?" JJ tried to keep the annoyance out of his voice but didn't do a very good job of it. Preston took it in stride though and explained.

"This isn't the same world you went to sleep in over 200 years ago Sir. Though you know the names of these places, these aren't the same places you remember. The Minutemen and I know the dangers of this new world and the location of most of said dangers. You might have driven to your death if we hadn't come along. To make it safe in this area, we need to clear that mutant stronghold and a few small raider camps in the area. That's why I sent ahead to have Bravo Company meet us here."

JJ shook his head and sighed. "You're right Garvey. I wasn't stopping to consider the possible dangers Boston now holds or that I couldn't handle everything alone. I was just excited that Goodneighbor might provide the first good lead I've had on Shaun since I woke up. Let's get this area cleared and secured so we can get back to it."

Colonel Garvey grinned from ear to ear. "Yes Sir General. Let's kick some Mutey ass." With that he explained the situation in the area as best as he could. A few of the Minutemen chimed in with more up to date information and a plan was formulated.

JJ got into his power armor as did Preston, and an entire squad from Bravo Company. JJ led the advance into the first floor (against Preston's wishes). After killing two Super Mutants and taking out a machinegun turret, JJ reassessed the situation.

He tuned to the Commander of Bravo Company. "Captain Ellis. Take three platoons and set up a perimeter around the building and secure this first floor. Colonel Garvey and I will take the remainder and clear this place floor by floor, all the way to the top. Once a floor is cleared, I'll send word down for you to send a fire team and hold that floor. Any questions?" When the Captain said he had none, JJ turned to Preston.

"Colonel, we will lead the way up each stairwell in the power armor. Once we secure a foothold on each floor, the rest of our team can fan out and clear the floor. Lasers, machinegun turrets, and armor piercing rounds are what we need to stay alert for. Nothing short of those will penetrate the armor."

Garvey nodded in understanding and relief as he was beginning to think his General had a death wish. As they moved up each floor, a Super Mutant began taunting them over the loud speakers. JJ made a combat assessment of the open areas as they advanced, grumbling to himself about the added noise. Only once they actually neared the top, did they run into any of the things JJ had warned about. A few of the Super Mutant squad leaders (as he thought of them) had laser rifles.

JJ put them down as fast as he could by putting several 77 grain jacketed hollow points from his M-71 through their brains. On the top floor, JJ was just peaking around the corner of a stairwell when he picked up the distinct sound of a minigun spinning up. As he was the only one in the stairwell, he turned and dove back toward the next floor as armor piercing rounds shredded the wall he had been standing behind.

He heard deep, booming laughter coming from above. "Ha Haha, little baby's scared. Come on metal man, come and face me!" JJ shook his head and thought to himself. _"No way you freak."_

JJ removed a smoke grenade from a pouch, pulled the pin, and tossed it up the stairwell. When the grenade went off, JJ switched the visor in his helmet to thermal vision and waited for the smoke to fill the stairwell.

The mutant did exactly as JJ suspected and began spraying the stairwell with rounds. JJ waited until he heard the mutant reloading before charging around the corner and putting several rounds into the silhouette showing on his HUD. "OWWW! Wounded!" JJ heard as he emerged out of the smoke like some armored specter and fired several more rounds into the mutant's head.

JJ yelled clear and the Minutemen that were wearing the power armor stormed up the stairwell, cleared, and secured the rest of the floor, killing a few more super mutants in the process. JJ walked up to a cage that contained a human and a large Super Mutant. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The human started quoting some Shakespeare and the Mutant appraised JJ and his Minutemen with a cool, calculated stare.

The human stopped his quotes and addressed JJ. "Thank you good sir for the timely rescue. My name is Rex Goodman, Strong here knows a safe way down and I suggest we follow him before more of those brutes show up." JJ removed his helmet and returned Strong's appraisal. "If I let you out of there, we aren't going to have any problems out of you are we?" Strong looked JJ in the eye.

"Strong not cause problem. Human fight well. Human teach Strong how to find Milk of Human Kindness. Little man here tell Strong about but Strong not understand."

JJ thought it over for a moment. "My Minutemen control every floor of this building and have it totally secured. You can use the stairwells safely." Rex thanked him and headed down the stairwell as quickly as he could. JJ turned back to Strong.

"Now what are we going to do with you big fella?" He asked the Mutant still standing in the cage. Strong looked around. "Strong can fight. Strong is named Strong because he is Strong." JJ chuckled and turned to Preston.

"Preston, this building is one of the tallest surviving buildings in Boston. We should station a garrison here to secure caravan routes and keep an eye on the rest of the city. I don't have a problem with Strong helping but how will the Minutemen handle working with a Super Mutant?"

Strong had stood by silently watching the two humans talking. "Strong can go where humans cannot. Strong go through wavy, burny air that burn humans. It only makes Strong stronger!"

When neither Preston or JJ showed any recognition of what Strong was saying, the mutant pointed at JJ's pip-boy. "Wavy, burny air that make little thing on wrist go click, click." JJ took only a second before realizing what Strong meant.

"Wait, you're saying radiation doesn't hurt you?" Strong crossed his arms and got a smug look on his face. "Yes, r-a-d-e-a-s-h-u-n, (he sounded it out like a child in kindergarten) makes us stronger, it heals us when hurt."

JJ made up his mind quickly then. "That explains why every Super Mutant stronghold we have taken down had barrels of nuclear waste in them. Strong, if I asked you to stay with this building and to guard the bottom floor, would you do that?" Strong thought about it for a long time before answering.

"Strong could stay with building? Not have to move?" JJ smiled slightly. "Yes Strong, you can stay here as long as you want. You would just guard the lower floor against other Super Mutants, Raiders, and anyone that wanted to hurt the Minutemen or you. There will be several of my Minutemen staying here too."

So JJ and Preston worked out the details and impressed it upon Strong that if he was unsure whether someone was an enemy or not, he was to use the intercom to get one of the Minutemen to help. JJ then had several barrels of radioactive waste moved out of the building into a special lead lined container. He showed Strong how to open the container if he was ever wounded and needed healing. Then he had the rest of the loose barrels hauled away for disposal later.

Bravo Company stayed to secure the building until two platoons from Alpha Company arrived to garrison the building. Once the two platoons arrived, Bravo company spread out and cleared the few small Raider camps around the area. Preston stayed with Bravo as well to make sure Strong wasn't treated badly. In time, the Minutemen would come to trust and like Strong but for now Preston figured it was better to be safe than sorry.

 **30 Minutes later**

 **Memory Den in**

 **Goodneighbor**

Doctor Amari worked with Nick and JJ in the memory loungers as JJ literally strolled through Kellogg's memories. Once JJ climbed out of the memory lounger, Piper was right there to steady him as he stumbled. A quick look into each other's eyes and JJ could have sworn he was looking at Nora. Doctor Amari was there quickly as well.

"Steady now, not so fast. Are you alright?" JJ nodded. "Yeah Doc, I think I'm alright. I kind of actually feel sorry for Kellogg. He was as much a victim as anyone else. But I'd do it all over again if it means finding Shaun. Well, I guess I'm off to the Glowing Sea to track down one Brian Virgil."

Piper was having none of that. "Are you nuts? That is the most heavily radiated area in all of the Commonwealth!" JJ sighed slightly and placed his hand on Piper's cheek. "Piper, I have too. It's the only lead I have on Shaun. I'll tank up on radaway and rad-x before I go. I'll also keep the power armor on the entire time. It is shielded to protect its wearer for up to seventy-two hours at that high a level of exposure. I'll be in and out well before the seventy-two hours run out."

Piper still wasn't convinced. "How the hell do you know you'll find what you need and be out of there inside of seventy-two hours? Hell, you don't even know where to look!" Piper wasn't happy and JJ was confused as to the reason. "Look, if it makes you feel any better, I won't go until the vertibird is repaired. It will definitely speed up the trip and search. I'll also take Strong with me as back-up, the radiation can't hurt him."

Piper just stood there with her fists on her hips tapping her foot. "If you insist on going, I'm going too." Then she stormed off to wait in the SUV. JJ looked around in confusion still. Dr. Amari just held up her hands. "Oh no, don't look at me for help on this one. You're on your own with her." She chuckled, causing JJ to grumble even more as he headed back upstairs.

JJ got back to the SUV to find Piper leaning against the passenger side door. He walked up to her in total confusion. "Piper, what's gotten into you? You know that this Dr. Virgil is the only lead I have on finding Shaun. I don't have a choice other than to give up and I won't do that for anyone."

He could see Piper's shoulders slump in acceptance. "I know JJ and I'm sorry. You need to find your son." She turned towards JJ and locked eyes with him. "I'm just scared of losing you is all."

Only then did it dawn on JJ that there were tears streaming down Piper's face. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her close. "You won't lose me that easy, trust me on that. I mean really? Why would I survive for over 200 years just to let a little thing like giant Deathclaws or a sea of lethal radiation stop me?"

JJ could feel Piper shudder slightly and thought he had really screwed up until he realized she was laughing. She half heartedly punched him in the chest as she smiled up at him. "You're an asshole, you know that?"

JJ just smiled back. "I excel in that department thank you. Now let's get out of here and pick up Strong before we check on Sturgis and our ride."

They swung by the Trinity Towers and swapped out the SUV for an APC so Strong could fit. The rest of the ride to Concord was completed in silence except for Strong's snoring as he napped in the troop compartment.

Sturgis was waiting on them when JJ put the APC in park and shut it down. "Everything is ready Boss and I even managed to get the HUD tracking system up and running." JJ chuckled. "I see why Preston's confidence in your repair ability is so strong."

Sturgis shrugged his shoulders. "It wasn't easy mind you, I made several trips back and forth between here and the crashed Bird over by Tenpines Bluff until I ran out of parts to scavenge. That's when I found that the electronics in the APC's are compatible with the Vertibirds. So I stripped all I could from the ones we couldn't repair and presto, a fully functional Vertibird. Minus the forward guns of course. Those still need a lot of work. But I did manage to fix the minigun mount and load her with a full supply of ammo."

JJ put his hand on Sturgis' shoulder. "Thanks Sturgis, this will help out a lot." The mechanic smiled back. "There's one more small surprise for you. Preston told me where you planned on taking her first so I added a layer of leaded radiation shielding. She won't be quite as agile as she normally would be but hopefully you won't have a lot of ground fire to dodge down that way, so the trade off in added rad protection should be worth it."

JJ thanked Sturgis again and began his preflight checks. Once everyone was clear of the building, JJ spun up the RPMs and pulled back on the collective. He never had a lot of flight experience so to be safe, JJ kept going straight up for longer than really needed before transitioning to forward flight.

He couldn't see the look on Piper's face as both JJ and Piper had donned power armor but he could tell she was at least looking in his direction. "Relax, I'll get the hang of it eventually." JJ teased. Piper responded as predictably as JJ thought she would. "What!? Are you saying this is the first time you've flown?!"

JJ couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry, I just thought I'd tease you a bit. I have flown before but by no means am I an expert. I promise not to crash and if for some unforeseen reason we do, just rely on the power armor to protect you." He said as innocently as he could. He couldn't help but chuckle as Piper couldn't hide the "humph" she made being amplified by the power armor's internal microphone. He wisely kept any comment to himself and pointed the vertibird toward the Glowing Sea and accelerated to cruising speed.

It didn't take the trio long to reach the outer edge of the heavy radiation known as the Glowing Sea. JJ turned on the powerful sensor suite of the vertibird and slowed considerably. He was seeing lots of rubble and other destroyed buildings. "I can't recognize anything from the air, it's all destroyed." He worked the controls on the navigation system. "Let's see if the satellite GPS system is still working. They are powered by advanced fusion cores that were designed to last a thousand years before they would have to be changed out. For that there were several maintenance robots that are in each satellite programmed to activate at certain intervals or if the satellite is damaged."

The screen filled with static so JJ kept fine tuning the frequencies until it cleared up and was able to sync with the satellites. It didn't help that it still showed the streets and area from before the war but the GPS did pinpoint the exact coordinates of the vertibird. Piper looked toward JJ. "I still don't see how this helps us. It's not like we can identify the streets below."

JJ chuckled a bit. "Such negativity from such a lovely lady. Tsk, tsk, such inappropriate behavior. No seriously, I don't need to see or match the streets to find what I have an idea to look for." He pointed to the GPS coordinates on the screen. "All I need is these. They tell me exactly where this vertibird is to within one meter. I know we are searching for an area where Virgil may be hiding. But there was also a top secret surveillance and research facility in this area and I know the coordinates to it."

He could hear Piper humph again. "And you're just bothering to tell us this now?" before JJ could respond, Strong uttered his first words since climbing into the vertibird. "Little woman likes Boss, Boss should marry her so she shuts up."

JJ wished he could see Piper's face as he was sure the look she was shooting Strong was priceless. She was sputtering like an old generator on bad gas from before fusion cores. A loud beeping distracted her from finishing what she was trying to say. JJ looked at his instruments. "That's what I was afraid of. The facilities automated defenses are still active. We'll have to avoid flying directly to the facility unless we want to be blown to little pieces. I might be able to find the IFF frequency but it will take time."

Piper was confused. "What's IFF frequency?" JJ chided himself for forgetting he wasn't with some of his old team. Flying in the vertibird with someone else wearing power armor had brought back some fond memories. "Sorry, IFF means Identify Friend Foe. It's something we used in my day to signal the defenses that we were friendlies incoming and not enemies. It's a complicated electronic challenge that the automated defenses send to an approaching aircraft. If that aircraft's IFF system doesn't respond with the current and correct frequency, it gets blown out of the sky." All Piper could respond with was simply, "Oh."

With that JJ banked the vertibird away from the secret facility and continued his search for the former Institute scientist. A few minutes later he spotted what he thought were people moving around a partially destroyed church. As he got closer, he could see they weren't people anymore, they were feral ghouls. "I wish I would have had Sturgis get the forward guns up to speed. Strong, use the mini-gun and take out those ghouls below us." He wasn't sure Strong heard him until he heard the mini-gun begin its spin-up.

He watched to his right as Strong stitched the ferals with 5mm rounds before he heard Strong's voice. "Move metal bird over building. Strong will jump through hole and finish ones inside." JJ started to protest but decided to use this as a learning experience about the Milk of Human Kindness that Strong was looking for. "Strong, do you know why I wanted you to kill those ferals?"

Strong shrugged. "Feral like bad animals. Them lost their brains to burny air." JJ was actually a bit surprised that Strong understood he wasn't just killing the ferals for fun. "Yes Strong, that is exactly why I asked you to do that. They were once humans just like me but the radiation has rotted their brains away. It is better to put them out of their misery and to keep them from doing something they never would have done as humans. It is a part of what you call the Milk of Human Kindness. But let me land over there and come in with you as back up."

Strong again surprised JJ. "No, Boss stay in air so things hidden under the ground not attack. Strong will be alright. If Strong gets hurt, burny air will heal him."

JJ shrugged his shoulders as much as he could in power armor and hovered over the hole in the church roof. He turned the active sensors to full power and searched the ground around the church and found what Strong was meaning.

There were several large radscorpians and what looked like the largest molerats he had ever seen lurking just under the surface, waiting to pounce on unsuspecting prey. He thought to himself that between the three of them, they should be able to handle a few radscorpians and molerats but didn't want to take the chance of the vertibird being damaged and stranding him and Piper in all of this radiation. " _I wonder how Strong knew they were out there? I'll have to remember to ask him when he is done inside._ "

He focused the sensors on the church and could see the infrared image of Strong moving through the half buried building smashing ferals with the sledgehammer in one hand or shooting them with his heavy pipe rifle in the other.

Strong made his way through the half buried church quickly, killing every feral inside. He then made his way to the stairs leading to the steeple that extended well above the surface. JJ eased the vertibird close enough for Strong to reach the cable ladder extending from the bottom of the door.

As soon as Strong put his weight on the ladder, the vertibird tilted alarmingly and Piper nearly fell out the door. JJ feathered the collective quickly and increased the power to the starboard rotor slightly, bringing the vertibird back level. "Sorry, I forgot how much Strong actually weighs. Are you alright Piper?"

JJ saw the helmet of the T-51 power armor turn his way and wished he could see her face. "I think so but if you ever try something like that again, land and let me off first." He could hear a slight edge to Piper's voice. Once Strong had climbed into the rear compartment and settled against the back wall, JJ took the vertibird to a higher altitude for safety.

"Piper, you must know I would never intentionally do anything that would cause you harm. I promise I will be more careful in the future." He could actually see the power armor rise slightly as Piper breathed in deeply before settling. Even with the amplification of the microphone in the power armor, JJ could barely hear Piper's reply.

"JJ, I know you would never do anything to hurt me, I feel the same way about you. It's just a little scary feeling like you're falling. I've done a lot and been through a lot in my lifetime. But since I've been traveling with you, I have been treading through truly virgin territory. Besides, I've just always envisioned myself dying in a completely different way than falling from a vertibird."

The way she said the last part just struck JJ as extremely funny. When he tried to control his laughter to apologize again, he could hear Piper laughing as well. "You're right, that is kind of funny." Strong was just shaking his head. "Humans no make sense sometimes." Which of course caused JJ to laugh even harder.

Piper and JJ finally controlled their laughter enough for JJ to transition the vertibird back to forward flight. JJ had set the GPS system to map the Glowing Sea and mark areas of potential interest for later exploration. He was also using the thermal imaging system of the aircraft as a way to eliminate each area as the likely hiding place of Virgil.

As the vertibird approached the lower Southwest quadrant of his search grid, the Geiger counter began picking up even higher levels of radiation than the rest of the Glowing Sea produced. "The day the bombs fell, I was facing this direction from Vault 111 and could see the massive mushroom cloud rising from this general area. This level of radiation could only be produced more than 200 years after detonation by a massive warhead. I would guess in the range of fifteen to twenty megatons, maybe more. It would also make the perfect hiding place."

Piper chimed in. "According to legend, this whole area, the Glowing Sea, is ground zero for the massive, multi-megaton blast that destroyed most of the Commonwealth while smaller blasts covered the rest. So your memory would be accurate."

JJ was about to respond when he spotted the massive crater on the FLIR (Forward, Looking, Infra-Red). What shocked him more than the size of the crater, was the dwellings he could see inside it. They were cobbled together with scraps from other buildings and crashed aircraft. "No way. There are actually people living in the crater!"

Piper looked out her window. "Uh, JJ, we should get away from here like yesterday. These people are crazy. They call themselves The Children of Atom and actually believe the radiation is a gift from their god, Atom. They tend to be a bit crazy and try to convert people to their beliefs in unpleasant ways."

JJ didn't turn her way as he was watching for any sign of an attack from below. "It sounds like you are speaking from experience." Piper squirmed uncomfortably inside the armor. "I don't want to talk about it right now, maybe later. But I would still suggest us getting the hell out of here." 

JJ thought about it for a bit. "No, I'll set down on the top of the crater and you and Strong stay with the bird. I'll see if Virgil is here or if they know where he might be." With that decision, he moved toward a large flat area above the rim of the crater. Of course before he landed, JJ made sure and check the thermal scanners to see if anything was lurking under the surface of the place he had chosen to land. He doubted he would find anything but better to be safe than sorry.

JJ eased the vertibird to the ground a little slower than actually necessary but he was still a rookie pilot. Strong unhooked the mini-gun from its mount and took up an overwatch position on a small rise of ground nearby. Piper shook her head slowly and moved off in the opposite direction of Strong but stayed in his line of sight.

It didn't take JJ long to find out what he needed to know from the Children of Atom. They were weird but didn't seem overly hostile as Piper had clearly thought they were. He returned to the vertibird and approached Piper. "They aren't as bad as you had me believing Piper. They told me what I needed to know to find Virgil without once trying to convert me."

Piper sighed heavily. "Not all sects are the same. Some are much more violent and more zealous than what others might be. The band that was going to sacrifice me to Atom were complete nut jobs. I bluffed my way out of that one by convincing them Atom spoke to me and I believed. It took me another couple of days to sneak away but I got the hell out of there at the first opportunity I got."

She held her hand up before JJ could respond. "Don't ask, it's something I'd rather not get into detail about right now. Let's just go find this Virgil and get the hell out of here as well." JJ chuckled lightly to himself. "Alright Piper, we'll get going. They said Virgil lived in a cave to the Southwest of this crater. I think I'll leave the vertibird here with Strong then you and I will go ahead on foot."

He told Strong what Piper and him were going to do. Strong just shrugged and nodded his consent. "Strong wait here and guard metal bird. Make sure nothing happen to it." With that JJ and Piper made their way around the outer edge of the crater and toward Virgil's cave.

It took them right at thirty minutes to reach the edge of a small ridge that looked down onto a cave mouth. "I hope that's it down there." JJ said as he pointed toward the cave opening. He started down the ridge only to slip a little, dislodging some gravel and larger rocks that clattered down the slope. JJ had his M-71 rifle in one hand and dropped his other to steady himself when he heard and saw a large Deathclaw rise up on the other side of the small gorge.

"Watch out! Deathclaw!" He yelled as he stopped trying to steady himself and simply sat down quickly on his butt. He began sliding down the slope but it allowed him to use both hands to raise and aim his rifle. He began pouring armor piercing, high velocity rounds into the head of the Deathclaw with a fair amount of accuracy.

Half a drum of ammo later, JJ slid to a stop at the bottom and used the momentum to launch himself up the other side of the gorge and into the reeling Deathclaw with all of the power of the servos. The already badly wounded creature roared in rage and pain and tried to swipe at this metal monster that had attacked it. JJ threw up his left arm and smashed it across the forearm of the Deathclaw about halfway between its wrist and elbow.

Over the sickening crunch of the limb breaking, JJ screamed at the top of his lungs and shoved the barrel of the rifle down the Deathclaw's throat and switched the selector from semi-auto fire to full auto and clamped down on the trigger hard.

The drum to an M-71 normally holds 80 rounds. JJ had modified one to hold double that by linking two drums back to back, similar to the old Beta mags used in AR-15 style rifles in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Between the high velocity slugs shredding the inside of its throat and skull and the bleeding from earlier wounds, the Deathclaw fell to its back dead.

Piper had been frozen in fear and was still standing there in shock when JJ made his way back to where she stood. The front of his armor from his helmet down to the knees was covered in blood and gore. When he saw Piper starting to convulse and reach for her helmet, he lunged for her screaming. "NO! Don't break the seal on the helmet! I know you're getting sick, but it's better to throw up inside the helmet than take it off out here! You won't last thirty seconds unprotected with this level of radiation!"

He could hear Piper gagging and gurgling inside the helmet for a few seconds. Then she began coughing and choking uncontrollably. He grabbed her up and ran into the cave carrying Piper like a child. He passed a set of automated turrets and some can chimes quickly but neither turret fired.

Once in the main chamber of the cave a large Super Mutant confronted him. "Stop right there!" He started to say more but JJ cut him off. "Shut up! She's choking on her own vomit!" JJ checked the Geiger counter mounted in his armor and saw that it was safe. He ripped the helmet off of Piper turning her face down then pulled his own off quickly as well.

The Mutant had eased up and offered a halfway clean towel and some water. JJ discarded the water as the Geiger counter showed it to be irradiated. He pulled a container of fresh water from his pack and held Piper across his lap, again face down as he wiped the residue from her mouth gently. She spat out several mouthfuls of puke before straining to sit up.

JJ helped her sit straight before pulling her face to him and kissing her hard. "PPhhhfftt..." Was the first thing out of Piper's mouth. "Yuck, don't do that! I just puked and here you go kissing me. Don't you find that disgusting?" JJ just smiled and pulled her as close as their armor would allow. "I thought I was going to lose you. And no, I could never find kissing you disgusting, no matter what."

Piper sat there at a total loss for words. "Jeeze Blue, I don't know what to say. Imagine that. Me at a loss for words. Do you really mean it?"

JJ leaned in and kissed her gently this time. "Yes Piper, I really mean it. I know we haven't known each other that long but I don't know what I would do without you and I don't want to find out."

The large Super Mutant had stood back at a short distance quietly watching the interaction between JJ and Piper. Now he cleared his throat to get their attention. "Ok, at first I thought you were working for the Institute but after watching the way you two treat each other, I doubt that to be the case now. So the question is, what are you doing here and what do you want?"

JJ handed Piper the damp towel and the bottle of fresh water before standing up. "I came here looking for a former Institute scientist named Brian Virgil. The memories I got from Kellogg's brain said he was hiding in the Glowing Sea."

Hearing the word Institute and Kellogg in the same breath put the mutant on guard again." What do you mean, "The memories you got from Kellogg's brain?" JJ held both hands up in front of him. "Easy now, Kellogg killed my wife and stole my son while I was trapped in a cryogenic stasis pod. So I tracked him down to get my son back but he had already given him to the Institute. Since Kellogg was of no use to me anymore, or so I thought, I killed him."

This confused the mutant a bit. "If you killed him, how did you get his memories?" He then crossed his massive arms across his chest and stared at him. JJ sighed. "I took a cybernetic piece from his brain and a doctor in Goodneighbor attached it to a gen 1 synth calling himself Nick Valentine now. We both got in her memory loungers and I literally strolled through Kellogg's memories virtually."

The mutant grudgingly accepted that as he had heard of the Memory Den even from inside the Institute. "Ok, I can accept that. And I am sorry for the loss of your wife and son. But why are you looking for Brian Virgil?" JJ looked him dead in the eye. "Because if you are Virgil, then you escaped and I was hoping you could tell me how to get into the Institute so I can get my son back."

Virgil couldn't keep his jaw from dropping. "Are you crazy? Do you know how virtually impossible that is?" JJ's tone turned hard. "I don't care how impossible it is or how long it takes. But I am going to find a way in and get my son back if I have to tear down every building in the Commonwealth with my bare hands." JJ hadn't yelled, cursed, or raised his voice in the slightest. He had actually lowered his voice. But Virgil heard every word clearly and actually felt a chill run up and down his back.

"I've seen and heard a lot of things in my life. But I actually believe you can and will do exactly what you say. I can help but only on one condition."

Thirty minutes later, JJ and Piper were back at the vertibird. JJ motioned for Strong to load up and began running through the preflight checklist. Once Strong had remounted the minigun and settled into the back of the vertibird, he looked toward JJ. "Did Boss find what he was looking for? Not mean the fight Boss had without Strong." He pointed to all the drying blood and gore on JJ's power armor.

JJ looked down as best as he could. "Yes, I found another lead that I have to follow. Sorry about getting into a fight without you but I will need you watching my back tomorrow for another fight." Piper started to protest but JJ cut her off. "Piper, I know you want to go too. But Strong and I can handle this one. From what Virgil said, a Courser is much more dangerous than the gen 1's and 2's we've faced. Please trust me on this one."

Piper slowly nodded her head. "I'll agree this one time if we can talk it out over dinner." JJ was a bit stunned but agreed. "Ok, let me drop Strong off at his place and we'll clean up and have dinner at my house tonight, ok?" Piper agreed and JJ turned slightly toward Strong.

"I don't know how tough of a fight this will be but pack whatever weapons you think you will need and I will pick you up tomorrow morning." Strong nodded his head eagerly. "Strong be ready. Strong could use a good beam rifle if Boss has one for Strong." JJ thought a bit. "I think we do have some extra laser rifles at Sanctuary. I will bring you one tomorrow when I pick you up." Strong agreed and sat back quietly.

After JJ dropped Strong off at Trinity Tower, he turned the vertibird toward the Northwest and Sanctuary. As he neared home, a message popped up on his pip-boy that made him smile. Sturgis had been busy since JJ left earlier that morning. He had painted a large yellow circle with yellow crosshairs onto one of the larger foundations in the settlement. JJ now had a landing pad for the vertibird right in town.

When JJ landed and was powering down the vertibird, he noticed the landing pad was not all Sturgis had been busy with. There was the beginnings of a building going up on another cleared foundation. The walls were being made of double layers of cinder blocks with heavy rebar going down through the center of them. JJ walked toward the partially constructed building as Sturgis approached from the town center.

"Thought I'd surprise you a bit with that Boss." Sturgis said as he pointed toward building. "A patrol found an intact and fully operational fusion reactor in the basement of a completely destroyed building. Tomorrow we are going to tear out the floor of said building and lift the reactor out using the A-frame I built to lift the vertibird. We'll load it on a trailer and haul it here to go inside that building right there. That will give us enough power to run anything we want with plenty of power to spare for any future needs."

JJ was impressed but mildly concerned. "That's good Sturgis. But wha-." Before he could finish his sentence, Sturgis interrupted him. "Don't worry about any radiation leaks Boss. That's why I laid the cinder blocks the way I did. Come on, I'll show you."

When JJ got closer, Sturgis began explaining like an excited child. "You see, I staggered the holes and left a four inch gap between the two walls. I've had patrols, with Preston's permission of course, bringing me all the lead they can find. Codsworth and I have then been melting that lead into the holes of the blocks and the four inch gap. That will give us roughly one full foot of lead to block any radiation leak that might happen."

JJ looked over the construction and was very impressed. "I'm sorry I doubted you Sturgis. The two staggered layers with a full four inch thick layer in between should definitely block any harmful radiation that may leak out." Piper was standing next to JJ and nodded her approval too before speaking up. "Ok, now can we go get cleaned up? I'm starving!"

The next morning JJ woke and untangled himself from a still sleeping Piper. He eased from the bed and picked up his wedding picture. "Sorry Honey but you're lost to me forever and I have to move on. There will always be a special place in my heart just for you. I would like to think you would want me to be happy." JJ whispered to himself before gently kissing the picture of Nora and sliding it into a dresser drawer.

Piper stirred slightly and looked toward JJ with sleep filled eyes. "Do we have to get up this early?" JJ eased over to the bed, leaning down to kiss her gently. "You can sleep as long as you want but I have to get a bath and pick up Strong. I've got a Courser to find and kill."

This shocked Piper fully awake. "Then I definitely want you to crawl back in this bed so you're safe. Normal Synths are dangerous, I can only imagine how deadly a Courser could be." JJ smiled down at her and gently brushed a stray strand of hair from Piper's face. "Would it make you feel better if I took along a platoon of Minutemen?"

Piper smiled back. "Yes, that would make me feel much better. I need you back safe and sound. And most definitely in one piece." She said mischievously as her hand started to stray below his waist. JJ jumped and pulled back laughing. "Oh no you don't. I'm not letting you start anything to try and distract me into staying. Save that for tonight when I return."

Piper pouted a bit but JJ stuck to his guns. "Nice try, but I know you're just worried and you're using every trick you know to distract yourself from that fact. Look Piper, I've come to care for you deeply in the short time we've been running together. I never thought I could fall in love again after Nora. But you've changed all of that so I am definitely going to keep safe so we can spend A LOT of time together. But I have to find Shaun. I hope you understand."

Piper nodded her head and became serious. "I care a lot about you too. I never thought in a million years I would be able to find anyone that could put up with me. Then you almost literally fell into my lap. Blue, I haven't been this happy at any point I can ever remember. Just please be careful and come home to me in one piece."

JJ smiled, kissed Piper again, then poured fresh water in the tub. "I will be careful. I promise." After a quick bath and breakfast, JJ double checked his pack and refilled anything he had used over the past several days. With that he went to hunt down the commander of the local garrison of Minutemen here at Sanctuary.

The sun was just cresting the horizon when JJ, Strong, and the platoon of Minutemen arrived at the old CIT ruins. It had been an easy trip for them as the Minutemen had taken full control of everything from Vault 111 in the Northwest to Fort Hagen in the Southwest. To the East, they controlled everything all the way from Breakheart Banks in the Northeast to the D.B. Technical High School in the Southeast. There were a few holdouts (mostly a few Gunner positions and a decent sized Raider encampment just to the East of the CIT ruins) toward the center of what used to be downtown but that's why JJ had decided this would be at least a two prong mission. He planned on wiping out a couple of those holdouts while hunting the Courser.

He had already allowed the small Brotherhood scouting mission under Paladin Dance to leave the Cambridge Police Station and link up with their airship at the Boston Airport. Dance was carrying a holotape with a message telling Elder Maxson that JJ would brook no interference in the affairs of his Minutemen or the Commonwealth as a whole. JJ had also added that he would like to arrange a meeting between himself and Elder Maxson when he finished with his current business. Now to secure the rest of the Commonwealth and then work on the rest of the United States. But first, he had to clear the small pockets of Gunners and Raiders left in the mostly cleared quadrant of what used to be Boston.

JJ had a platoon from Alpha Company bring Strong and meet him at the CIT ruins. The small Raider band that had been on the wreck of the USS Riptide had been cleared and the tug removed back downriver. It had taken JJ, Sturgis, and several others nearly a week to clear and repair the draw bridge enough to lower it. The bridge wouldn't have been up to code in the days before the bombs fell but it didn't need to be in the world after. It would hold until the Commonwealth was free and prospering enough to rebuild.

JJ briefed the Lieutenant in charge of 2nd Platoon on the current mission. After the entire platoon was up to speed on what needed to be accomplished, JJ and Strong took up positions on foot in front of the four vehicle convoy to follow the signal frequency given to him by Virgil. JJ slowed as he neared the edge of a wall and peaked around it slightly. He spotted a Raider and began to search other fortifications he could see ahead. He counted five Raiders that he could see so he figured there were more in the two buildings the walls and watch towers surrounded.

JJ walked back to the Lt's (pronounced el tee) APC and explained the situation to him. The Minutemen had been drilling hard for weeks under JJ's tutelage. And because he wasn't sure how tough the fight with the Courser was going to be, he had two full squads equipped in power armor. Most was the old style T-45 but several sets of T-51 and a few T-60's had been found in an armory at Ft. Hagen. JJ was wearing a fully upgraded set of T-60. All of the power armor the Minutemen wore had the crossed rifles emblem of the Minutemen stenciled on the chest plate.

JJ took half of the platoon and approached the two buildings from the West while the Lieutenant took the other half and circled around on the water front to the East. Sturgis had been able to repair most of the wireless radio transmitters and receivers in the helmets so JJ was able to communicate to the Lt up to a mile away. JJ pulled out his sniper rifle and using the edge of the wall for support, dropped the first Raider. "Execute." Was all he said into his mike (microphone) to initiate the attack by the Lt and his half of the platoon.

JJ spotted another Raider on the roof of the far North building taking aim at the attacking Minutemen to the East and centered the crosshairs on his head before squeezing the trigger. With the two he had shot down and the rest focusing on the two squads attacking from the East, JJ signaled for the rest of the platoon to follow him.

Within twenty minutes of JJ spotting the Raider camp, he and the platoon of Minutemen had killed twelve Raiders and cleared the small compound and both buildings while taking only one minor casualty. A machinegun turret between the buildings had open fire on the Lieutenant as he burst through the gate and a ricochet had clipped one of the unarmored Minutemen in the calf.

The wounded Minuteman was patched up and the convoy continued on after JJ radioed in the position for another squad to come and clean up. The signal lead JJ to the Greenetech Genetics building.

"Lieutenant, set a perimeter around this building. You and the unarmored troops will stay and guard our backs. I will take the two squads of power armor wearing troops and Strong to find this Courser. I know it is a Gunner stronghold that is why I am taking everyone in power armor except you. Hopefully this Courser I am hunting will thin them out before we have to engage them."

JJ stowed his sniper rifle in the APC he had brought and grabbed his M-71. JJ stood to the right of the door and both squads stacked (standing single file against the building while pressing close to one another) to either side. He reached up and pulled the door open and the squad stacked to the left of the door filed in quickly with the second squad following right on their heels. JJ followed the second squad in to find them all positioned around the room covering the entire room and each other with interlocking fields of fire just as he had taught them. He had heard them all whispering "clear" into their mikes before he entered.

He could also hear that a Gunner Commander was giving orders using the intercom, concerning a Courser attacking its way up through the building. JJ signaled the squad leader to take the stairs who then passed the command to his squad. JJ couldn't help but feel his chest swell with pride at the precision and professionalism being displayed by his Minutemen. It reminded him so much of his old Special Forces team that it actually brought a tear to his eye.

Floor by floor JJ and the Minutemen quickly cleared the building killing any Gunner that attempted to intercept them. As they neared the top floor, JJ received a radio call from the Lieutenant below informing him that a squad of Minutemen had arrived with a small group from Diamond City Security. Danny Sullivan was in charge of that group and he said the Mayor had told him to come and help as Diamond City must do their part in helping the Minutemen secure the Commonwealth.

JJ shook his head. "He waits until we have secured his city completely and shed a lot of blood in doing so, before committing his Security Forces to assist. Typical politician." He got a few chuckles before he realized he had said that out loud. He signaled to continue and heard a commotion above as the doors opened to show stairs leading up. He could hear people talking about some password then he heard what sounded like a laser shot. He bounded passed the point man of the squad in the lead and up the stairs.

When he neared the top he could hear someone still talking but the tone had changed. JJ knew someone had heard him coming and was moving to ambush him but trying to make it sound like they didn't know. He took that into account and quickly studied the layout in front of him as he pushed the servos even harder to accomplish what he knew would be viewed as a suicidal move. He didn't slow down though as he leapt into the air, feet first toward the door framing to the far left of where he calculated the Courser (or whoever was waiting in ambush) stood.

The boots of his power armor hit exactly where he had intended and he relaxed his legs slightly before pushing off the door frame hard and activating a carefully timed microsecond burst from the jet pack Sturgis had installed for him.

The Courser was taken completely by surprise as he had expected someone to simply rush into the room. He was crushed instantly when JJ slammed into his chest head first after being propelled from an angle the Courser wasn't counting on.

A fully upgraded set of T-60 power armor with a jetpack attachment, weighs in at just over one thousand pounds. With the Courser between JJ and the wall, the impact on JJ was drastically reduced. It didn't do much for the Courser though as that much weight slamming into him that quickly, crushed the life from him (if a Courser can be considered to have life) before he could even attempt to activate his stealth boy.

JJ was consumed in a fit of laughter that the bonehead maneuver had actually worked but managed to choke out a, "CLEAR!" to his Minutemen below. The squad leader approached him as he was still lying on the floor laughing. "General, you have to stop putting yourself in danger like that. A Courser was an unknown. You could have been killed!" JJ calmed down a bit and let the squad leader and another help him to his feet.

"Look Staff Sergeant, I appreciate what you and the others are trying to do but I was killing bad guys two centuries before any of you were born. There are some things that take a very long time to teach to someone else. That maneuver I just pulled off is called the Bank Shot. It took years of practice to perfect and I just haven't had the time to teach tactics like that to the Minutemen. It is the safest and easiest way to defeat a set ambush in a building without injuring others in the room."

He paused for a bit. "The easiest way of course is chunking in a couple of frags (fragmentation grenades) and blowing the hell out of everything in the room. I couldn't take that chance as I had no idea who else was in that room." The squad leader nodded in acceptance. "Ok Sir, I understand. But please promise me this? When we are done with all of this and we have some down time, you'll teach me these tactics then I'll teach everyone else."

JJ placed his hand on the Staff Sergeants shoulder. "Son, you've got a deal. Now let's get what we came for and see what this Courser was so interested in." He turned to see Strong standing there looking kind of lost. "Sorry Strong, it looks like this was one mission I really could have left you at home for. But if you are still wanting to learn about or find the Milk of Human Kindness, stay close to me and I think you'll see some here real soon." With that he turned to the tied up Gunners still left alive in the room.

"What was that Courser looking for and why did he shoot him?" He asked as he pointed to the dead Gunner Commander in the room. The Gunner Sergeant looked up at him. "Why the hell should I tell you anything? You Minutemen are finished anyway. The Commonwealth belongs to us Gunners now."

JJ leaned down and grabbed him by the throat and lifted him nearly to the ceiling. "Does this feel like we are through? Haven't you been paying attention over the last couple of months? We control everything from D.B. Technical High School all the way to the northern edge of the Commonwealth. We've taken out all of your strongholds in vault 75, the Mass Fusion building, the small encampments on the overpasses, and here. We will continue to grow in strength and I will personally drive your sorry, traitorous asses out of Quincy."

With that he dropped the blue faced Gunner Sergeant to the floor. "Now, I'll only ask nicely one more time. After that, I get nasty. What was the Courser searching for and why did he shoot him?" The Gunner rolled to his side still gasping for air. "Fuck you." Was all he said. JJ casually reached down to the Gunner and took a grip just above his ankle. With a slight twist of his wrist, he snapped the two bones between the knee and the ankle.

The Gunner screamed and began begging for his life. JJ took off his helmet and knelt so he could look the Gunner Sergeant in the eye. "That was the next step after asking nicely. It gets progressively worse the longer you defy me." He then put one finger of his power armor glove on the broken bones and pushed.

The Gunner broke just like his shin bones had. "Ok, Ok, I'll talk! The Courser was after that girl in there. (He jerked his head toward the door behind him.) We wouldn't tell him the password to the locked door so he shot the Commander trying to scare the rest of us into giving it up. It's hidden in that toolbox over there."

JJ retrieved the password and unlocked the door. While he was using the computer that controlled the door, he noticed it also controlled power to the elevators. He activated the elevators and turned to the girl as she stepped out of the room. She thanked him, told him she was an escaped Synth, and refused any help. He showed her a map of the territory the Minutemen controlled using his pip-boy. "If you stay in this area, you'll be safe. None of my Minutemen will harm you but it is best for now not to tell anyone you are a Synth." She thanked him again and left the building.

JJ activated his mike. "There is a young lady named Jenny coming out of the building. She is not to be stopped or bothered. Lieutenant, when she exits the building, point her toward any of our settlements and allow her safe passage." When he heard the acknowledgement to his orders he stood up and walked to the Courser's body. He removed the chip he was told he needed and took the elevator down to the lobby. He had told the Staff Sergeant to set guards on the roof and wait for further orders.

JJ gave orders to the Lieutenant to secure the building and wait for another platoon to relieve them as a permanent garrison for the building. He relayed the orders to assign a garrison on to Colonel Preston then left for Goodneighbor. Although Goodneighbor had not joined the Minutemen, JJ had promised Hancock that they would keep his small community protected in their territory.

After a quick visit to Doctor Amari in the Memory Den, JJ was headed into the area known as the Boston Commons to Walk the Freedom Trail in search of the group called, the Railroad. He was one step closer to finding his son and he was determined to accomplish that task as quickly as possible. Because even with the not so subtle warning he had sent to Elder Maxim, Brotherhood vertibirds were beginning to be seen all around the Commonwealth. They had avoided Minutemen held territory so far but JJ was positive that small truce wasn't going to hold for much longer.

Something was going to have to be done about the Brotherhood and JJ was hoping it didn't turn into an all out war with them. He had been talking to a lot of people that had traveled from other parts of the country and knew the Brotherhood of Steel was a very powerful enemy with a very large number of Soldiers.

But in the back of his mind, a plan to make them an Ally of the Minutemen was slowly forming. It would take some serious work but with a little sweat and a lot of fast talking, he believed it was possible. But for now, he had to find the Railroad, get the chip decoded, and find a way into the Institute. Shaun was still his first priority and then he could turn his attention to repairing the damage done to and rebuilding the great lady he had once pledged his life to protect, the United States of America...

 **Well, here's chapter 3. Sorry it took so long to get out but I had too many ideas clashing together in my head from other stories and then the Holidays kind of got in the way. I will try to get the next chapter out quicker as I have gotten passed most of the set-up for the story. The first couple of chapters followed closely to the game storyline so I could establish a solid baseline. As you can see, I strayed further away in this chapter and will continue away from the base storyline. More to follow soon and I hope you enjoy reading it. As always, any review is welcome.**

 **This is a follow up to a few reviews. Yes it feels rushed but I do vaguely allude to it having been over 2 months since JJ did the first mission for Preston after rescuing them from Concord. So the plan is to do some flashbacks in later chapters for JJ to reflect on what he has accomplished and even a failure or two. I've been told he may be too perfect but I write the way I play the game. My character is a Loner mostly and he does all of the building and clearing of bad guys alone. After I build to the perk level with a follower, I dump them to get more perks from other followers. Is it realistic? Probably not but neither is being shot by a mini nuke and surviving...**


	4. Chapter 4

**Boston Commons**

 **JJ and Piper**

 **Walk the Freedom Trail**

JJ had remembered the tourist attraction known as the Freedom Trail Tour. It was big even in his day as it had marked a literal trail for tourists to follow and see historic places from the early history of the United States. So he figured the logical place to start would be at the Trail Head Tour robot. Some of the trail lead outside Minutemen controlled territory so JJ and Piper were both wearing their power armor minus helmets, which they were carrying for now.

JJ was looking around carefully as he and Piper approached the tour guide robot. Painted on a piece of board were the words, "At Journeys End, Follow Freedom's Lantern". Just below that on the brass trail marker, JJ saw the number 7 painted in red with an arrow pointing to a letter A in the words "The Freedom Trail Boston" of the seal.

JJ brought the marker to Piper's attention. "Interesting. That looks like a clue painted on the trail marker." Piper looked it over and pulled out her little journalist notebook, as JJ called it, and wrote down 7 A. She put away the notebook and JJ looked around. "The entire Freedom Trail is roughly three miles long and leads passed many places that have a significant place in American History. This could take a while."

Piper smiled up at him. "Then I've got the best walking partner in the whole Commonwealth to follow the trail with." JJ chuckled and leaned down to kiss her thinking how lucky he was to find Piper. In his mind, JJ flashed back to the moment he realized he had truly fallen in love with Piper.

 _JJ looked into Piper's eyes after she had finished puking from seeing the gore of the dead deathclaw splattered all over JJ's power armor. He couldn't help but to kiss her passionately, evoking a very surprised response from the lovely brunette._ He flashed back further to Piper getting upset with him about even going to the Glowing Sea. JJ realized Piper had began feeling something for him before he fell for her. _"Interesting."_ JJ thought to himself before continuing to give Piper the dime tour of the Freedom Trail.

 **Satellite Station Olivia**

 **at the same moment JJ and Pipe**

 **left the first marker**

One of the dormant servers powered up and an unused computer screen began flashing as it powered up as well. The Sergeant on watch glanced over it quickly before calling his Lieutenant in a panicked voice. "Lieutenant! You have to come down here now. One of the dormant tracking servers just powered up and is tracking an inbound bogey!"

Lieutenant Jackson didn't take long to reach the lower level. "What tracking server powered up and what kind of bogey?" The confused Sergeant shook his head. "That's just it Sir, according to these readouts, it is the server designed to track near Earth objects or inbound missiles!"

Before the eltee could respond, another server began flashing. It had taken Sturgis and Professor Scara from the Diamond City Science Center several weeks to get most of the computers and servers working. Although most were dormant, the duo had learned what purpose most of the servers were meant for and trained several Minutemen to run them. Now it was those trained Minutemen's job to train the rest of the Minutemen that would be stationed there.

"One of the defense satellites is powering up and tracking the bogey." Sergeant Buchanan said as he read the screen. "Better get the General on the horn. He'll want to know what is going on." Jackson said as he watched the screen. The screen had changed slightly showing the incoming bogey as a red triangle. Other lines swept in from the outer edge of the screen and bracketed the bogey. As the lines intersected, the words "target locked" appeared in the lower middle of the screen.

After a few seconds, more lights flashed on the server then the red triangle flashed and vanished. The words "target neutralized" appeared and the server returned to hibernation. Lieutenant Jackson stood there shaking his head. "Sergeant, what the hell just happened?"

Sergeant James "Bucky" Buchanan just shook his head. "If I had to make a guess Sir, I would say the automated satellite defense system just shot down a rogue meteor except the bogey tried to evade when the tracking system locked on."

Jackson wasn't buying it though. "I don't think that was a meteor either. The flight path was to controlled. Maybe when Sturgis and Dr. Scara were working on these computers, they woke a missile satellite or something."

Bucky wasn't buying that either. "I don't think that could be the case either Sir. Why would the defense satellites target one of their own missiles? Also, remember it tried to evade and break the target lock. So unless that missile was loaded with massive computing power, I think it was a UFO."

Jackson thought for a bit before replying. "I still lean more toward an old missile satellite. Those things are over 200 years old. There's no telling what they might do." He looked toward the communications Sergeant. "Have you been able to raise the General?"

Sergeant Perez looked up. "He hasn't responded just yet but I did call for him."

 **Back in Boston Commons**

JJ and Piper were strolling the Freedom Trail and chatting about the past few months. JJ had just heard his helmet radio crackle when a sonic boom broke overhead. He instinctively grabbed Piper and pulled her behind cover. Piper looked a little frightened and slightly confused. "What the hell was that?" She asked quickly as she watched the trail of smoke coming from the fast moving object.

JJ shook his head. "I'm not really sure what that was. It looked similar to a fighter jet from my time but it was moving too fast for me to make a positive identification on it. The noise though is what we called a sonic boom in my time."

Piper still looked confused so JJ explained. "A sonic boom is created when an object breaks the sound barrier or what is also called the speed of sound. The speed of sound is 768 miles per hour." Piper's eyes grew huge.

"You mean there were things that could travel that fast in your time?" She asked almost breathlessly. JJ couldn't help but chuckle. "Piper My Dear, we had jets that could travel several times the speed of sound. We had cars, granted they were rocket cars but they broke the sound barrier on the ground."

He watched her eyes grow even larger before adding. "Hell our short range space shuttles could travel 17,500 miles per hour. Sometimes even faster." He heard his radio crackle again and realized that it wasn't simple interference but someone was trying to contact him. "Hang on, someone is trying to contact me." He donned the helmet and responded.

"This is General Jones, last calling station please say again." He paused for a bit listening.

"General, this is Sergeant Perez at Satellite Tracking Station Olivia. Lieutenant Jackson needs to talk to you."

After a brief second, Lt. Jackson's voice came across the speakers. "General, from what I can tell, something approached the Earth and one of the dormant defense satellites came online and shot it down."

JJ nodded. "I saw the smoke trail as it passed overhead Lieutenant. It was traveling fast enough to cause a sonic boom and was heading in the direction of Oberland Station." He paused to let the eltee respond.

"We weren't sure what was happening at first Sir. One of the dormant servers began flashing and then the computer informed us it was tracking an inbound bogey. We lost it from the scope after the satellite engaged it."

JJ thought for a few seconds. "Lieutenant, contact Oberland Station and have them send out a recon patrol to attempt to locate the object. Under no circumstances are they to touch it. Just locate and seal off the area until I get there. I'll head to Trinity Plaza and get a ride from Alpha Company. General Jones out."

With that he turned to Piper. "Well looks like we'll have to postpone walking the Freedom Trail for a few. We need to check that out and find out what the hell it was."

Piper smiled up at him and donned her helmet as well. "Right behind you Dear." With that JJ and Piper took up a light jog toward Trinity Plaza.

As they neared the building, they could see an APC sitting with its ramp down. Captain Fraizer from Alpha Company was standing next to the idling APC and snapped off a sharp salute. "I heard Olivia radio you, so I had a squad spun up and waiting to take you to Oberland General."

JJ returned the salute and motioned for Piper to load up. "Much appreciated Captain. I'll bring them back in one piece." With that he loaded up as well.

It didn't take the APC long to reach Oberland Station as most of the debris had been cleared from the roads and the damaged roads repaired in Minutemen controlled territory.

As the APC carrying JJ, Piper, and the squad from Alpha Company approached Oberland Station, a power armor clad Minuteman with Corporal (Cpl) stripes painted on the arm waved to the rolling APC. JJ was the first out as the ramp lowered. Returning the salute the Corporal gave him he said. "Report Corporal."

The Cpl turned toward the East and began his report. "General, you're not going to believe it until you see it. I think it's a genuine flying saucer like is described in those comic books. It's just over this little rise. You can see the smoke from the burning trees around the crashed thing. Staff Sergeant (SSG) Jenkins found a trail of some green looking liquid leading away from the crash and into a small cave. He has the cave and the saucer surrounded and secure."

As JJ approached the still smoking craft, he immediately realized this was not some human pre-war fighter. It was most definitely not made by humans as at best a human child could fit inside. He also spotted the trail of green liquid the Cpl described so he followed it until he saw the cave mouth.

SSG Jenkins approached JJ and snapped of a crisp salute. "General, whatever was flying that thing is in the cave as far as we know. I say as far as we know because I have no clue if there is another way into or out of the cave." JJ looked around at the small perimeter that was guarding the cave mouth.

Each Minutemen was behind some type of solid cover whether it be a tree, rock, or natural rise in the ground that created a defilade (allows for most of the body or vehicle to remain under cover while allowing either to still be able to shoot). He nodded in appreciation that the Minutemen were learning real war fighting techniques quickly.

"Ok Staff, leave three men here to secure the entrance and the rest stack on me. We don't know what we'll run into and from the looks of this "blood" trail, it is wounded and may be in no mood for visitors. I'd like to see if we can resolve this peacefully but be ready to kill if necessary."

SSG Jenkins nodded his head. "Copy that General, we'll be ready." He turned and used hand signals to carry out the General's orders which made JJ feel even more proud than he had earlier.

Piper stood outside with the three Minutemen and waited nervously. She was happy JJ intended to try and solve this without violence as the Commonwealth already had more than its fair share of violence. JJ was just the answer to a lot of not only the Commonwealth's problems but the rest of the world's as well.

As JJ and the other Minutemen entered the cave, they activated the thermal vision built into their helmets. Not every Minuteman in the Commonwealth had power armor but Sturgis, JJ, and Professor Scara had restored enough suits to outfit one squad per platoon. The men that SSG Jenkins left outside didn't have power armor yet as only part of his squad had been issued their armor. Sturgis and Professor Scara were working on the last three suits of armor for that squad.

In the thermal from his helmet, JJ noticed the "blood" had a strange luminous trait, kind of like the tritium used in compass' and night sights on weapons. He eased up to a corner and peaked around slowly. He saw a small, child sized being leaning against a wall toward the back of the cave. JJ scanned what he could see of the cave and didn't see any other entrances into the small cavern.

JJ slung his M-71 in easy reach and drew a suppressed 10mm. He raised his hands and slowly stepped into view of the diminutive alien. "We mea..." Was all he got out before the little creature screeched something unintelligible and fired his energy weapon.

The years of training and pure instinct was all that saved JJ from being killed. The screech of the creature set off all kinds of red flags in his mind. He raised the 10mm, threw himself backward with all of the power of the armor's servos, and fired two shots while moving.

The blast from the energy weapon still clipped his right arm and literally vaporized the outer layer of armor, part of the frame, the heavily modified vault suit, and some of the skin, exposing and burning raw muscle tissue. "SON OF A BITCH!" JJ yelled as he was caught by the two Minutemen behind him. The rest of the squad that was with him, burst around their wounded General to remove the threat.

The two Soldiers that caught JJ before he fell, turned and dragged him out of the cave as fast as they could run. They nearly ran over Piper who had heard the blast of the alien's weapon and JJ's yell. She turned and followed them back into the light outside and grabbed a stimpack from her bag. The arm looked bad but it could have been much worse had the blast caught JJ in the chest or struck the arm full on instead of grazing it.

JJ was cradling his right arm. "Shit that stings." Piper didn't smile or try to soothe him.

"If you think that stings, try this." She said as she shoved the stimpack against the burned muscle and hit the injector button. Piper was slightly angry that JJ seemed to always put himself in danger and figured JJ would pass out or at least scream as most people did when raw and burnt muscle was touched. All he did was flex his jaw hard and exhale loudly.

As the pain subsided from the near magical healing effect of the stimpack, JJ relaxed a bit and leaned back against the leg of Piper's power armor. "That was only a grazing shot and it vaporized the plating of a Mk-VI T-60! If that little pistol can do this, what would a rifle, or the weapons on that ship do?"

About that time, SSG Jenkins and the rest of his squad walked out of the cave carrying the little alien. Piper took one look and nearly gagged. "That is what did this to you?" She asked as she pointed at the cute little pistol SSG Jenkins had in his hand.

JJ laughed and nodded his head reflecting on an old movie he had seen before the bombs fell. In his mind he could see a man holding what looked like a toy in his hand complaining that he would break it. That man's partner just laughed and walked away. Later in the movie when he fired the little toy like pistol, the recoil lifted him off the ground and threw him several feet backwards into some boxes. The stunned look on his face was priceless.

JJ looked up at SSG Jenkins. "Staff, get on the horn and get a flatbed truck out here. Make sure they swing by and grab Sturgis and his A-frame crane too. I want this ship moved to a secure location to be studied ASAP. If we can reverse engineer some of this technology, we can be one step closer to liberating and protecting the Commonwealth."

While they were waiting, JJ removed his power armor and secured it in the back of an APC as the right arm wouldn't move anymore. "Looks like I've got some work to do on my armor."

Piper looked over at him and chuckled. "You might want to think about some new clothes too instead of that vault suite."

JJ looked down at his right arm and chuckled as well, even though his arm still looked pretty bad. The burns were gone and the skin was starting to grow slowly over the muscle. He shook his head and wondered if the alien craft might yield even better medical technology than stimpacks. But then he looked at the "blood" trail and at the little alien and thought if it had better medical technology on board, he would have used it.

JJ and Piper had returned to Oberland Station and were relaxing in the mess hall when they heard several vehicles approaching. They got up from the table and made their way outside. Along with the flatbed there were four APC's loaded to the gills with firepower. Colonel Garvey approached his General and rendered a salute.

"General, you have got to stop putting yourself in dangerous positions. You are no longer just a foot Soldier. You are the General of an Army of Minutemen."

JJ sighed deeply. "That's what Piper keeps telling me as well. Look Preston, I understand the concern you both have for me. But being down range (in the field) is what I know. I'm very good at what I do and always have been. It's what has kept me alive through thirty years in the Military before the bombs fell."

Neither Preston or Piper were buying it. "Ok, I promise to be more careful in the future. But until the Minutemen can reach my level of experience and skill, I will continue to run missions my way." He held his hand up to stop any rebuttal. "I'm not finished."

"I will be more careful, of that I promise you. But answer me honestly, do you think anyone of the Minutemen would have been able to dodge most of the blast?" He asked as he pointed to his right arm. " My experience and pure instinct is what allowed me to survive with relatively minor injuries."

JJ could see both Piper and Preston begrudgingly accept his argument but neither liked it. So Preston changed the subject. "So where are we going to put that ship?"

JJ thought for a bit. "Have you and your command finished clearing the bunkers and garage under the satellite array at Fort Hagen?"

Preston nodded in understanding. "Yes Sir we have. We still need Sturgis to get the main access doors operational but that would be the perfect place for it. Speaking of which, we located something there I think you'll want to check out personally. Especially after today." He said as he pointed to JJ's right arm again.

Piper decided to chime in at that point. "It will do you some good to rest up and finish healing before we continue our walk of the Freedom Trail. Looking at whatever they found will give you that opportunity."

JJ shook his head and laughed. "You two are worse than my old Sergeant Major. He was a hard ass but he worried like an old mother hen about his Soldiers." JJ held both hands up in mock surrender.

"Alright, you two win. Let's get this ship loaded up and over to the garage. Then while the men unload it, I can check out this find of yours Colonel."

It took just over an hour to dig out the crashed alien craft and load it onto the flatbed. Neither Piper or Preston would allow JJ to help so he sat in a chair with a cold beer in his hand and "supervised" the excavation and loading of the craft.

 **Just before Dark**

 **Fort Hagen Satellite Array**

It had taken Sturgis, Professor Scara, and JJ roughly thirty minutes to get one of the main doors leading into the garage repaired. Once the door was repaired they brought the flatbed carrying the alien craft inside. True to his promise, while the men unloaded the ship, JJ went to see this great find Preston and the men under his command had made.

JJ whistled as he passed several Mark V (MK-V) Behemoth tanks parked in the main garage. "Nice, REALLY nice. We need to get Sturgis down here to get these running. I have a feeling we'll need them real soon." With that, he continued following Preston.

When they reached the heavy metal door to the room, JJ stopped and looked over the door. His arm had mostly healed but the new growth of skin was itching like crazy, making JJ a bit irritable so he couldn't help being a bit sarcastic. "Oh wow, it's a big metal door!" To which Piper punched him, in his left arm of course.

"Don't be such an asshole. I'm sure what Preston meant wasn't the door."

Preston hid his smile because he understood healing from a nasty wound. "Well, you're sort of right Piper, the door is part of it but what is supposedly behind it is what I really wanted the General to see."

JJ was curious now but realized he owed Preston an apology. "Piper's right Preston, I shouldn't be such an asshole at times. I apologize for being sarcastic."

Garvey held up his hand. "Think nothing of it General, I've been in your shoes. From what Sturgis and the rest of us could find, there is supposed to be a lab behind that door that was working on a new type of armor that would make the MK-VI T-60 armor look like tin foil. We just can't get the door open. It isn't responding to the command override code you gave me."

JJ nodded his head slowly. "That is strange unless Colonel Tomlin had only his access code loaded onto this computer. "I created you a new one but didn't give you his. Let me see if that's it."

JJ sat down at the terminal and fed his old friends access code into it. The screen flashed a couple of times but accepted the code and unlocked. "That's it. Jeremy, that was his first name, used only his command code here. Well, let's see what my old friend was up to."

He scanned through some of the files and learned that Colonel Jeremy Tomlin had developed a new power armor designated the X-01. He glanced through the theoretical capabilities (as it had not been battle tested at the time of the journal entries) of the armor before releasing the maglocks on the door.

The lab behind the door was roughly two hundred yards long and fifty yards wide. It contained a large smelter, a hydraulic hammer, several forging molds, and an electronics area. There were four complete suits of the experimental armor against the right side of the room. At the far end of the lab were several pieces of the armor shaped like a chest plate that were attached to mannequins. There were also scorch marks on the reinforced wall behind the plates.

The plates themselves were also scorched and showed multiple dents as well. On the left side of the room were multiple weapons ranging from 9mm pistols up to plasma rifles. There was also a minigun and a missile launcher.

JJ whistled softly and walked around one of the full suits. "From what I saw from just glancing over Jeremy's notes, this armor can withstand multiple hits from weapons ranging from 9mm to even a minigun. It even held up under a direct strike from a missile."

Preston looked around. "Who in their right mind would fire those type of weapons in this small of a room?"

JJ couldn't help but laugh as he walked over to a terminal in the corner. "Because Jeremy had installed a type of force field at the firing line. It allowed rounds to pass through going to the target but blocked anything coming back from the target. Not quite sure how he did that but it's all right here on his computer. Jeremy was a huge science nerd and was always tinkering with some kind of technology and ways to improve it."

None of the suits had fusion cores in them so JJ sent a Soldier to bring one from his suit in the APC. While the Soldier was gone, JJ continued reading through the notes on the terminal in the lab. "Well, that's going to be a problem." JJ said as he read something disappointing in the notes.

"It seems the four suits in this room and the target plates are the only ones with the capability of withstanding multiple weapons strikes. Jeremy got hold of some experimental metal called Saturnite from someplace way out West that he combined with other metals to make a super alloy. He had enough to make what you see in this room before he ran out. He was unable to contact his supplier after that."

The more JJ read of the notes, the more confused he became. It seems that after the bombs fell, Colonel Tomlin began receiving orders from a group called the Enclave. They were claiming they were the last remnants of the fallen United States government and had the authentication codes to back it up. They had managed to acquire the Saturnite and had instructed him to construct and test a new type of power armor.

The Colonel had done as instructed and sent the initial findings back to the Enclave that seemed to be based on a fortified oil rig some place in the Pacific Ocean. He had requested more of the Saturnite but had received no reply or any further instructions. All JJ could think about was how the hell did the remnants of the United States government end up in the Pacific Ocean?

The Soldier returned with the fusion core and handed it to JJ. Before he installed the core into one of the power armor suits, JJ had a thought and grabbed his ruck sack. He pulled the alien energy weapon out and activated the force field. He then took aim at the center plate at the other end of the room and squeezed of a shot.

Piper and Preston had been watching curiously as JJ fired the weapon. The bolt of energy hit the plate and splattered all around it but didn't vaporize it the way it had the armor on his T-60. "Well that would have saved a bit of pain. Now let's see how well Jeremy designed these things."

JJ made his way over and climbed into the proto-type power armor. As it closed around him all he could say was "Cool! You did a good job Old Friend, this is very well designed. Hopefully your design will allow me to take back and rebuild our nation."

The X-01 armor had the most advanced Heads Up Display JJ had ever seen. As he looked around the room, a small triangle bracketed each person he looked at. If that person was carrying a weapon, the triangle lit up with a red highlight. Piper had laid her pistol on the table so she was highlighted in green.

JJ was wondering what other features the armor had and how to access them when he felt a sharp sting at the base of his skull. The room blurred out and began to spin. If it wasn't for the built in gyros in the suit, he would have fallen to his knees. As it was, he staggered a bit and both Piper and Preston jumped to try and catch him.

JJ held up his hand in their direction. "No, I'm alright. Something felt like it stung me at the back of my neck. I see now it is a neural interface to control the additional functions of the suit. Very impressive. That wasn't mentioned in the notes. So Jeremy didn't send the full specs for the suits to this Enclave. He must not have trusted them."

He could see the suit had a type of jet pack thruster that was unlike anything he had ever seen. According to the data he could see scrolling up the HUD, it used a type of gravimetric thrusters that were hidden until commanded to deploy. It had a larger oxygen reserve and also provided better protection against radiation than even the lead lined T-60 did.

"These suits will provide a significant advantage over any power armor currently in existence. The only problem I see, is they need a rare ore called Saturnite to make them with. Jeremy only had enough ore to build these four sets. We'll have to find a way to acquire more and I have a couple of ideas that will at least get us started in that direction."

He exited the armor and turned to Preston. "First, get on the horn and get as many eggheads as you can here to figure out that alien craft. Second, I need to finish following the clues on the Freedom Trail and find the Railroad. I have to get Shaun back and deal with the Institute."

After everyone moved out to carry out their General's orders, JJ re-entered the power armor and made his way to a power armor station. He exited the suit and hooked it into the station before grabbing an air spray gun and painting the suit in Minuteman colors. He added five small stars to the shoulder boards on each shoulder of the armor to designate his rank of General. He left the suit to dry while he and Piper headed up to the mess hall to grab a bite to eat.

Over dinner JJ was a thousand miles away in his head and Piper picked up on it. "A cap for your thoughts." She said as she smiled at him. JJ came back to Earth and smiled back at her.

"Well, I was trying to decide how I want to work this. I have a dozen different things I want to get done yesterday but I think I've narrowed it to three that take priority. Number one and still top priority is finding Shaun, so tomorrow morning, we should finish gathering the clues on the Freedom Trail to find the Railroad." He paused to put a fork full of food in his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully.

"My next goal would be making contact with Elder Maxson and trying to either form an Alliance with the Brotherhood or get them to leave the Commonwealth. I would prefer an Alliance but I'm not sure if he would be receptive. That was two, three is clearing out Quincy and taking out the Gunners once and for all. These two could be interchangeable but having the backing of the Brotherhood would make the other much less bloody for the Minutemen."

After JJ and Piper finished their meal, they made their way to the guest quarters that Preston had set up for them. Both of them were so exhausted that after they shared a quick shower, both were asleep in seconds after lying down.

The next morning JJ had Piper a nice surprise waiting. He had left orders with Preston to have a mechanic paint the rest of the X-01 suits in Minutemen colors. On one he had Press Corp painted for Piper. After a quick breakfast, JJ and Piper suited up in their new armor before loading up in an APC to head back to the Boston Commons.

JJ and Piper had been following the Freedom Trail for just over an hour when they began to get close to the Haymarket Mall. A blood curdling scream broke through the air. Piper froze and looked toward JJ with a look of terror on her face.

JJ was already on the move, donning the helmet to the X-01 armor. He moved quickly to the corner of the building before taking a quick peak around. What he saw caused his blood to boil. There were several barricades set up between the buildings near the Old Corner Bookstore. Standing near a wooden scaffold were two raiders. A third raider was holding a knife and torturing a wastelander hanging from the scaffolding. A fourth and fifth raider were holding down another wastelander and were in the process of tearing her clothes off.

Before Piper could get her own helmet on and join JJ, the General had unslung his suppressed M-71 and engaged the thrusters on his new power armor. The experimental thrusters were a huge improvement over the old style jet packs JJ had tested before the war.

The gravimetric thrusters pushed JJ to a height of roughly thirty feet in barely a second. Using the very upgraded HUD in the X-01, JJ zeroed in on the two raiders attempting to rape the female wastelander. Both raiders died never knowing what hit them as 72 grain jacketed hollow points tore through their skulls.

The three standing around the male wastelander looked toward their two comrades in confusion as both of their heads jerked to the side, spraying brains and the red mist of blood. JJ was amazed at the armor's ability to seemingly anticipate his thoughts. The thrusters had fired in such a way that he was going to land in the center of the three raiders by the scaffold.

JJ braced as he neared the ground. From thirty feet, the 1500 plus pounds of highly modified power armor hit the ground like a freight train. JJ angled his right arm so the elbow crashed onto the top of one of the raiders heads, killing him instantly. All three raiders were thrown off their feet by the shockwave, leaving two of the raiders stunned.

JJ shifted to his left and put two rounds from his M-71 into each of the surviving raiders chests. The female wastelander screamed and pushed her back against the building at the sight of a metal covered man landing near her husband.

Piper ran up to try and calm her which only caused her to scream louder. Piper pulled her helmet off in an attempt to ease the woman's fright. "Easy, easy, we're not going to hurt you. We are the good guys."

The woman was nearly delirious with fright and continued to scream until her husband spoke up. "Abigail! It's ok. They are part of the Minutemen. They won't hurt us."

JJ slung his rifle and picked up the knife the raider had been using. He reached up and grasped the rope the man was hanging from. He cut the rope with one swipe and gently eased the man to the ground.

"That's right Sir, just relax and let me take a look at those cuts." JJ then cut the rope between the man's hands and pulled out a stimpack. After a quick inspection of the wastelander's wounds, he placed the stimpack against the man's thigh and pressed the plunger.

While the two wastelanders rested, with Piper watching over them, JJ searched the raiders camp for useful supplies. He also radioed for a Minutemen patrol to come and secure the area in order to allow the two wastelanders to make their way to a settlement safely.

JJ and Piper were conversing quietly when JJ snapped his head up in the direction of the Old Corner Bookstore. There were two feral ghouls sniffing around the entrance to the raider camp. JJ sprinted toward them and grabbed both around the throat. He lifted both in the air and squeezed, popping the heads off using the strength of the servos in the gauntlets of the X-01. Once the patrol arrived and the couple was safe, JJ and Piper continued along the Freedom Trail.

An hour later, the two were standing in front of the Old North Church. JJ sighed and looked around. "I knew we were going to end up here as this was the end of the Freedom Trail even in my time. We just needed the whole puzzle of clues that was left. Interesting that it spells out Railroad."

After dispatching more feral ghouls inside the church, JJ and Piper were standing at a dead end tunnel in the catacombs of the church. On one wall was the same seal they had followed along the entire trail. It had electrical wires running to it so JJ decided to take a chance.

He touched the seal and put slight pressure on it. The ring, that said The Freedom Trail Boston, turned slightly. There was a red arrow on the center seal pointing toward the moveable ring. JJ used the ring to spell out the word railroad, they got from the clues on the Freedom Trail, pushing the center of the seal as each letter lined up.

After the last letter of railroad was locked in, a section of the brick wall began to slide inward before sliding into the recess of the wall itself.

JJ lowered the barrel of his rifle into the low ready position, activated the thermal sensors of his HUD, and scanned the dark room behind the opening. Standing on something like a raised stage were three people.

Instead of just entering, JJ activated the external microphone inside his helmet. "My name is General Jonathan "Bullseye" Jones. I am the current leader of the Commonwealth Minutemen. I followed the Freedom Trail in search of the Railroad in order to secure their help and possibly an alliance."

The lights came on in the room and JJ deactivated his thermal imaging. Standing in the middle of the stage was a woman with bright red hair. To her right was a dark skinned woman with a white Mohawk haircut wielding a minigun. To the left of the red head was a male wearing a news boy cap and blue jacket. The red head spoke up.

"Keep your weapon lowered and approach slowly. Don't make any hasty moves or Glory here will force feed you some armor piercing lunch." She indicated the woman wielding the minigun. JJ chuckled to himself knowing the new armor could withstand multiple strikes from even the high velocity armor piercing rounds of a minigun. He let his custom assault rifle dangle free at the end of its sling and raised his hands in front of him.

"I'm not here for a fight. I just need some help decrypting a Courser chip I took out of the head of a Courser that I killed. Dr. Amari said you might be able to help with that." JJ stated as he and Piper slowly entered the room. That statement took the three Railroad operatives by surprise. All three made eye contact with each other.

As the red head began to speak, another male entered from the back of the "stage" and interrupted her. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Des, you're throwing a party without me? And I see you invited the Courser Killer? What gives with my invitation?"

The red head (Des) looked back at the new comer. "Deacon, you're late as always. So you're telling me that he's not just blowing smoke up our asses about killing a Courser?" Deacon nodded his head up and down very enthusiastically.

"That's exactly what I'm saying Boss. If I were you, I'd show this Courser Killing Machine a little respect. We have to let him in. He has an intact Courser chip for heaven's sake!"

The red head looked back toward JJ and Piper. "Well, I guess that settles it. I'm Desdemona, leader of the Railroad. Although this goes against our normal operating procedures, welcome to the Railroad. Decoding a Courser chip is tricky at best but I have just the man for the job. Follow me."

With that she turns and walks off the back of the stage. JJ looks at Piper and casually shrugs his shoulders. "Like the Lady said, "Follow her."

Once JJ and Piper had made it inside and Des had introduced them to the "man for the job", she turned toward JJ. "Before we do this, I need to lay down some ground rules. Once Tom here decodes the chip, you hand it over to us." She demanded.

JJ had removed his helmet as he entered Railroad Headquarters so the look he turned on the Railroad leader froze the blood in her veins. "I'll make this abundantly clear for everyone. I DO NOT work for you or anyone in your organization. DO NOT EVER demand shit from me. IF you want something I have, ask politely if you know what's good for you."

JJ never raised his voice but the low tone conveyed more than enough malice to stop everyone in their tracks. No one spoke and you could have heard a pin drop in the room. Several large Railroad Soldiers did however move to be able to cover JJ and Piper with their weapons. JJ would later come to know them as Railroad Heavies. But for now, they were nothing more than a potential threat to him finding Shaun.

Desdemona actually felt like pissing herself and stammered a quick reply. "No, no, I wasn't demanding. I just think we could put it to better use than you could. I just meant that we will decode it, make you a complete copy of all the data on it, and we would accept the chip itself as payment for decoding it."

JJ felt the slight pressure of Piper's gauntleted hand on the arm of his power armor. It served to comfort and calm him slightly. He released a deep sigh. "I find that acceptable. Just take heed and remember for future exchanges, do not use that condescending tone or demand that I do anything. I would like to be able to ally the Minutemen with you and work together if possible."

The atmosphere in the HQ relaxed some and Des breathed a little easier. "I think we can work with that. But just out of curiosity, do you really think the two of you would have stood a chance against all of us?"

JJ bristled a bit but answered calmly. "I have more combat skills and training than your entire organization combined. I've fought in the freezing cold of Alaska, across the whole of Asia to Beijing itself. All of this before ANY of you were born. I have been in cryogenic suspension in Vault 111 since the day the bombs fell. Trust me, Piper and I would be the only ones left standing when the smoke cleared. And really take this to heart when I say I can be your best friend or your worst nightmare..."

Several of the members of the Railroad looked nervously around at each other. It was Tinker Tom talking trash to the Courser chip that broke the tension in the room. Desdemona nodded her head slightly.

"You're right, I'm so used to dealing with Raiders, Super Mutants, Institute lackeys, and that new faction, The Brotherhood of Steel, that I forget the Minutemen exist. After the Quincy massacre, we thought they were all but gone. I mean we had been getting reports that there was a new general in charge and the Minutemen were growing in power but I thought the reports were grossly exaggerated. "

JJ shook his head. "Well they are not. I am rebuilding them from the ground up. I've trained them in actual United States military doctrine and we are stronger than ever. We now control everything from Vault 111 in the North to the edge of the Glowing Sea in the South. Except for a few small pockets we have yet to finish clearing out. The Gunners in Vault 95 and Gunner's Plaza for instance."

He paused to let them chew on that for a few seconds before continuing. "Our control of the area also extends to the East from Vault 111 all the way to Parson's Creamery. Going South from Parson's Cemetery, the line isn't straight. It borders The Parson's State Asylum down to Fort Strong where it cuts back West around the airport before turning South again to the D.B. Technical School. We still have a lot of work to do in clearing out stubborn pockets of resistance, but we are getting there."

Desdemona was impressed with what the Minutemen had accomplished under JJ's leadership. "You've done well in the short time since you've taken the reigns of the Minutemen. With an alliance between our two factions, we could accomplish so much more."

JJ nodded cordially. "Thank you. That is one reason I walked the Freedom Trail to find you. We have set up garrisons in several of the old Military outposts to include Fort Hagen and Fort Strong. But I want to retake the Castle to be our permanent headquarters. I have scouted it out and found it to be chocked full of Mirelurks. I have also seen large batches of eggs indicating a queen in the area."

JJ had studied a lot about the new wildlife the radiation from the war and the F.E.V. (Forced Evolutionary Virus) had spawned. After the Boston Library was cleared out by the Minutemen, JJ spent lots of his limited down time reading the recovered archives on post war creatures.

The mention of a possible queen caused everyone's blood to run cold. "A mirelurk queen is one of the most deadly creatures the radiation created. You'll need some serious firepower to take one down." Glory added as she finally spoke.

JJ smiled. "Well, I may have just the thing. We found several prewar MK-V heavy tanks in storage at Ft. Hagen. My engineers have been working nonstop at getting them operational again. We can move a platoon of the tanks into a defilade position just here to the Northwest of the Castle." He said as he pointed at the map laid out on the table in front of him.

"Then several of us in power armor can keep her attention while the tanks open up on her. We also have access to a couple of vertibirds as well, one of them is configured as a gunship with heavy guns, twin Gatling lasers, and missile launchers. Probably best to clear out as many of the other mirelurks as we can first though."

Several of the Railroad Heavies caught themselves nodding their heads in agreement with JJ's tactical assessment of the whole situation. Desdemona looked over the map at the territory JJ had pointed out as being secured and under the control of the Minutemen.

"Wow, you've really turned everything around for the Minutemen. I was serious earlier when I said we thought they were done for. Never in my life would I have believed they would make so drastic of a recovery."

JJ nodded in appreciation. "Thank you. It helped that my prewar Special Forces training and experience included training and raising an army from scratch. This was easier this time since the Minutemen all speak good English. It was easy enough to find several of them that could learn very quickly and retained what I taught them. In turn, they trained others who trained others and so on. We called it Train the Trainer before the war."

A man in a lab coat stepped to the forefront next to JJ. "You keep saying before the war and you did mention cryogenic suspension. Are you telling me you were alive before the war? And by the way, I'm Doctor Carrington, Desdemona's second in command."

JJ sized up the good doctor. "Yes Doc, that's exactly what I am saying. I was actually born in the year 2035. I joined the United States Army in 2053 and because of my service to the country, Vault-Tec gave me and my family a slot in vault 111. When we first entered the vault, on the day the bombs fell, they put us in these pods they said were decontamination pods. They turned out to be cryogenic suspension pods."

Dr. Carrington looked skeptical. "Vault-Tec actually made it work? In everything I can find, cryogenic suspension was only theoretical." JJ shook his head. "I'm living proof they made it work. The whole vault would have survived if Kellogg and the Institute scientists hadn't shut the other pods down to make sure mine stayed fully functional. All of the terminals are still functional. I stationed a company of Minutemen there once they cleaned it out and we got the fusion reactor working."

Des and Tinker Tom were standing close listening intently to JJ's conversation with Dr. Carrington. JJ turned to Des. "From what I can gather and see here, the Railroad hasn't had a run of great luck lately. With the Minutemen as your Allies, you can rebuild and become stronger than you were before whatever happened, well, happened."

He paused to see if she would respond. "Now that you have decoded the chip for me, I have to deliver a copy to someone then the next objective will be taking back The Castle. We'll start getting the tanks into position tonight and launch the attack just before sunrise tomorrow. I would appreciate any shooters you might want to lend to the cause but we can accomplish the mission completely without you if need be."

Several of the Heavies raised their hands to volunteer as they saw the benefit of having a powerful ally like the New Minutemen on their side. Des looked around and sighed. "Looks like we'll be sending you some shooters. Just take care of them the best you can. We are kind of short on Heavies after the fall of the Switchboard."

That comment caused several sharp intakes of breath to be heard across the room. Des held up her hand. "If we are to be allies, we need to be open and honest with each other. From what I've heard from the General, he has been. We will do the same." She said as she gestured around her.

"This was our fallback from our main headquarters. We were based out of a prewar Defense Intelligence Agency base known as the Switchboard. At least until the Institute found us and nearly wiped us out in a surprise attack."

JJ knew all about the original prewar Switchboard as he had numerous dealings with them with his Special Forces background and as commander of Ft. Hagen. "Once The Castle is taken and garrisoned, we can look at liberating the Switchboard and fortifying it if you'd like."

This caught most of the people in the room by surprise. Dr. Carrington was probably the most surprised. "You would do that for us? Risk the lives of your men for virtual strangers?"

JJ simply smiled at him. "Isn't that what allies are supposed to do Doctor?" He turned back to Des. "I think it would be best if you linked up with my second in command and let him get you and your people up to speed on the planned assault. His name is Colonel Preston Garvey and he's at Ft. Hagen. I'll radio him and have him send a vertibird to pickup you along with a couple of your advisors."

Des nodded. "That will be acceptable. I'll take Deacon and Glory if that is ok with you."

JJ agreed. "That'll be fine. Once we get to know and trust each other better, I'm sure Tom here would love to get a look at some of our toys down there as well."

The look on the techy's face told the whole story. "Hey now Des, I'd happily go down with you as well." He said very enthusiastically.

Des couldn't help but laugh. "Sorry Tom, I think the General makes a good point. We don't know each other that well and I could be handing over the only man in the Commonwealth that can crack Institute code."

Needless to say, Tinker Tom was beyond disappointed. JJ couldn't help but chuckle at his reaction as well. "It's ok Tom. It won't take long for Des to realize I am sincere and genuine. You'll get your chance at some of our toys soon enough. In the mean time, I'll head topside to radio Colonel Garvey. You're welcome to go with me Deacon. You know, to keep me honest."

JJ didn't do anything to hide his amusement at the thought of Deacon being able to stop him if he did have nefarious intentions. Deacon just grinned. "You can use our radio if you like."

Doctor Carrington glared at him for offering. JJ politely declined. "That's ok Doctor. One of the advantages of clearing out and garrisoning Satellite Station Olivia was the fact that the satellite communications system (Satcom) was still intact. It took some creative computer work but we got the system rebooted and working."

Once he reached the surface, it didn't take long for JJ to raise Preston on the Satcom. Within minutes there were two vertibirds en route to the Railroad HQ. One for Desdemona and her crew and the lead insulated one for JJ and Piper.

In hardly no time at all, both Vertibirds were on approach to land in the open field near Christopher Columbus Park. While making their way to the park, JJ showed more of his battle prowess by killing a Super Mutant and mutant hound without firing a shot.

He spotted the hound before the Super Mutant as the hound threw up his head and made a bugling howl. The leader of the Minutemen immediately broke into a sprint toward the mutant hound that ended in him kicking the mutated dog in the head. The kick was so hard it ripped the head off and launched it like a football during kick off in a game before the war.

The death of his pet caused the Super Mutant to scream at the top of his lungs and charge JJ, firing his .38 caliber pipe rifle into the former Special Forces Operator's armor. JJ simply walked to meet him, completely ignoring the low powered slugs bouncing off of the X-01 MKVI armor.

The large green mutant was shocked that his bullets didn't even leave a scratch on this metal man. He was so shocked he didn't realize the same metal man had his head gripped in his metal hands until he felt the pain of his skull cracking.

JJ walked straight to the Super Mutant and crushed his head between the gauntlets of the power armor. The powerful Super Mutant's head was crushed like a mutfruit that had been stepped on by a Brahmin.

Glory was extremely impressed but was also hit with a sinking feeling. "Damn nice, DAMN nice. It's good to see another tough son of a bitch that can get shit done. I'm just glad we didn't throw down earlier. After seeing this, I'm not liking what our odds of survival would have been against you."

Des had been thinking the same thing and apparently so had Deacon as he was again nodding his head up and down furiously. "Yes, much better to be allies with this Killing Machine than enemies."

JJ was glad his helmet was attached so that it hid his smile. "Like I said earlier, I can be your best friend or your absolute WORST nightmare..."

He let it drop at that as the two vertibirds glided in for a landing. Desdemona, Glory, and Deacon said their good-byes and boarded the vertibird gunship. Once JJ and Piper were on board the other one, both vertibirds lifted off and headed toward Ft. Hagen. Once the gunship landed at the fort, the other would continue South to deliver the copy of the decoded Courser chip to Virgil.

Once the lead lined vertibird reached Virgil's cave, it came into a low hover just down the valley from the entrance. JJ and Piper both jumped to the ground with a heavy crash. They both made their way into the cave without incident while the vertibird went higher and entered a racetrack holding pattern. "Radio us when you're ready for pickup General."

Virgil was surprised JJ had achieved his goal of finding, killing, and getting the chip from a Courser. He was even more surprised JJ had been able to get it decoded and copied. He handed over the roughly drawn plans for the Institute Mass Relay and reminded JJ of their deal. JJ thanked him, agreed he would not forget their deal, and left the cave.

After radioing the circling vertibird, he stood back and looked around at the heavily irradiated landscape. "We really need to try and get this mess cleaned up and reopened to settlement." He said quietly to Piper.

Piper dipped her head in agreement. "I couldn't agree more Babe. We nearly destroyed the planet now we need to learn from and fix our mistakes." JJ agreed whole heartedly and that was part of what he was trying to instill in his training of the Minutemen.

Twenty minutes later, JJ and Piper were attaching their power armor to side by side armor racks. JJ did a quick inspection and service on both sets with Piper watching exactly how he did it.

He then made his way down to the War Room where Colonel Preston was going over the plan for the attack on The Castle, with Des and her crew, for the tenth time. JJ had trained all of his staff in the Minutemen that repetition was imperative to successful combat operations.

Glory was very impressed with the tactical planning JJ and his Minutemen had put into tomorrow's operation to retake The Castle.

JJ was leading the assault himself, much to both Piper's and Preston's displeasure. He was taking in a full platoon of Minutemen all of which would be in power armor. Granted, the majority of the armor was T-51 MKVI's with a few T-60's and T-45's scattered in the mix. With Sturgis' help, JJ had used his Special Forces experience and what he learned in college to upgrade all of the armor they currently had to MKVI. JJ's actual degree was in mechanical engineering with a secondary in structural engineering.

The ground troops would enter The Castle through the front gate and the two holes knocked in the walls on the West side. First JJ and several Minutemen snipers would use anti-material rifles with armor piercing explosive rounds from the vertibirds to pick off as many Mirelurks as they could.

Once most of the visible mirelurks were dead, JJ and the snipers would switch to assault rifles and jump to the ground to join the rest of the power armored platoon and a dozen Railroad Heavies in clearing out the eggs and remaining mirelurks.

The tanks were already moving into position at the same time Preston was finishing up the briefing. Four MK-V Behemoth tanks eased into a defilade position just to the Northwest of The Castle. There was a large landlocked lagoon between them and The Castle but still left the target area well within their range.

Several of the Minutemen were carrying flamers to help clear the eggs that were too close to hatching to be kept for food. JJ had a newly modified missile launcher with a targeting computer. It had four tubes mounted in a square and a stabilizer as well. With the amount of eggs that had been seen, there was no doubt there was a queen nearby.

Then add to that the story of the Minutemen losing The Castle to a massive sea monster and that just added more meat to help solidify that fact. With the tanks, the vertibird gunship, and JJ's missile launcher, he was hoping to be able to take out the queen very quickly. The problem was they had no idea where she was hiding. It could be anywhere outside the walls as a mirelurk queen would be way too large to escape detection inside the fort itself.

JJ looked around at the Railroad crew. "Does all of this look good to you guys? As you can see, it could be done without you but it can also serve as an introduction to each other as to how we operate."

Des looked between her two agents who both locked eyes and nodded their approval. "Well you really know your stuff General. This plan looks like it can be accomplished with minimal casualties. The wild card will be the queen."

JJ nodded before replying. "The queen will most definitely be the most dangerous part. If I knew what direction she would approach from, we could lay some plasma mines in her path that would easily slow her down and possibly even kill her. I might still have a couple of mine layers seed the most likely approach while the rest of us clear the eggs and any mirelurk we can't snipe from the vertibirds."

Preston made a notation on a pad then added. "I'll plan on that now Sir to cover all bases." JJ nodded. "Good call Colonel, make it so. Well, that's about all we can do tonight. I'll arrange for you to get back to your HQ so you can get your shooters spun up and briefed. Choose a pickup area and we'll have APC's meet you at 0300 hours to give you a lift to the objective."

With that the meeting broke up and everyone said their good-byes and made their way to their perspective departure points. JJ and Piper retired to the guest quarters and made love before falling asleep in each other's arms.

 **Well that's it for Chapter 4. Sorry it took so long but real life and trying to juggle 3 stories got in the way. Next chapter will of course include the battle to retake the Castle, solidifying the alliance between the Minutemen and the Railroad, and several other ideas I will leave to your imagination. I hope you enjoy reading these as much as I enjoy writing them. Thanks for reading and until next time, keep reading and write me a review if you feel inclined.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just before Dawn at the Castle**

The Minutemen were in position awaiting the signal from the General to attack the mass of Mirelurks that could be seen moving around the Castle grounds. A lone Minuteman Sapper was placing plasma mines near the two large breeches in the Castle walls. He placed them a few meters apart leading from the edge of the water all the way to the wall.

The two vertibirds holding JJ and the other three Minutemen snipers were hovering a thousand meters off the coast, waiting for the sapper to signal the mines were laid. JJ was watching the top of the Castle walls through his thermal scope as were the other snipers.

"I count three mirelurks roaming the upper walls and at least four more wondering around in the courtyard. There also appears to be another three, possibly more, buried just under the surface on the top and at least four to five more buried in the courtyard."

One of the other snipers replied to JJ's assessment. "I concur General, and several clutches of eggs on top and in the courtyard."

Five minutes later the sapper radioed in. "General, I've just placed the last mine and am withdrawing to the old diner. It's all yours Sir."

JJ tapped the pilot on the shoulder, keyed his mike, and brought his heavy sniper rifle to his shoulder. "We're a go shooters, execute."

With that both vertibirds rose higher in the air and moved over the Castle. All four snipers fired simultaneously and four mirelurks dropped to the ground with a large hole where their faces had been.

The four snipers shifted targets and fired again, dropping four more mirelurks in their tracks. JJ and the other three scanned the area, looking for additional targets. Each sniper switched to thermal and put several shots into the multiple mirelurks lurking just under the surface of the dirt. A few shots later, JJ keyed his mike again. "Ground forces, move in but take your time, and be VERY careful, there may be more lurking out of sight inside."

The two vertibirds moved in to a point close enough for the power armor wearing Minutemen, including JJ, to jump into the courtyard. The three other snipers stayed on the birds while the rest, minus JJ, carried heavy napalm flamers. JJ had switched to his customized M-71.

The power armored Minutemen moved through the Castle methodically killing mirelurks and collecting eggs that weren't close to hatching. Any hatchling that hatched was either stepped on by a power armor boot or cooked with the flamers. Only a few managed to inflict minor bites on the unarmored Minutemen or Railroad Heavies.

As more and more of the castle was cleared, JJ moved to the top of the Castle and switched his M-71 out for his custom missile launcher.

Everyone froze when they heard a rumbling roar and saw the water in the small lagoon begin to roll like it was boiling. JJ moved into a better position to get a clear shot and waited. He ducked down behind an intact rampart and waited as the massive mirelurk queen surfaced and moved toward the opening in the wall of the Castle.

JJ and the rest of the attack force waited as she neared the first plasma mine. JJ was nearly deafened by the queen's roar as the first mine exploded under one of her feet. She staggered slightly and stepped near another mine that began beeping. It only took a few seconds for the second mine to explode, again causing the mirelurk queen to roar in pain and anger.

JJ keyed his mike and contacted the platoon leader of his tank platoon. "Lieutenant Sawyer, FIRE!" The roar of the Behemoth's cannon could be heard even over the screams of the badly wounded queen. All four tanks fired a salvo of high explosive armor piercing shells from their twin cannon.

By the time she reached the third mine, she was hurting badly and the plasma mines had nearly cooked her lower half. As the third mine exploded, JJ rose up and took aim with his launcher. As each of the four missiles in the tube locked on, a low growl emitted from the targeting computer after each lock. JJ hit the trigger four times in rapid succession and grinned in satisfaction as each high explosive missile streaked from their tubes and slammed into the screaming head of the queen.

The badly wounded queen was in more pain than she had ever felt. She was also more angry than she had ever been. She tried to turn toward the powerful little insect that had just hit her face. However the third mine had blown off two of her right side legs, over balancing her in the process. Without the two legs to even out her weight, the badly mangled leg that was damaged first, collapsed under her.

The four missiles JJ had fired were joined by eight more from two other minutemen. The mirelurk queen was falling toward the other three plasma mines in front of her as the twelve missiles struck and burrowed deeply into the queen's front side before exploding. JJ's had hit her in her very vulnerable face, nearly killing her straight off.

The other eight struck her armored chest, ripping layers of heavy armor plating away while the shells from the tanks slammed into her back armor. The exposed flesh landed directly on the first of the remaining plasma mines. With the armor gone, the remaining mines blew upward into the raw meat of the mirelurk queen, striking the final blow to seal her fate.

JJ looked around the courtyard, surveying the carnage below. There were several unarmored Minutemen and Railroad Heavies lying on the ground badly wounded. The acid spittle of the queen had done severe damage to unarmored flesh and even badly damaged some of the power armor as well. The only power armor that was hit with the acid and not harmed was the newly acquired X-01 that Preston and JJ were wearing.

JJ didn't want to take any chances though and Preston and he walked through the lagoon several times to rinse of any remaining acid that might have clung to the armor. Once Preston finished his third trip across the lagoon JJ waved him over.

"We did it Colonel. We reclaimed Minutemen headquarters. Let's get some engineers in here and start fortifying her." Preston removed the helmet of the power armor revealing a huge grin.

"I can't believe it! We won! We actually won! General, you have really turned things around for the Minutemen. I knew when I saw you sniping those Raiders in Concord that you were the right man for the job. The Commonwealth actually has a fighting chance with you at the helm of the Minutemen."

JJ removed his helmet as well. "Thank you Preston. I couldn't have done it without you though. All I did was bring a new perspective, some old school training, and a strong will to survive to the Minutemen. You and the others are the true back bone of this organization."

Preston ducked his head slightly and smiled before answering. "Humble as ever Sir, don't sell yourself short. Without you, there would be no Minutemen. I would have died in Concord and Mama Murphy, Sturgis, and the rest would have been wiped out."

JJ just laid his right hand on Preston's shoulder. "But you didn't die and everyone I found you protecting, came out of it just fine. Now the next order of business needs to be cleaning this place up and getting that relay built."

Preston nodded his head. "Yes sir General, we'll get right on that." With that, he donned his helmet and began barking orders to the Minutemen engineers while JJ donned his own helmet and went to inspect the rest of the Castle.

He found the General's quarters and began carrying some of the broken furniture outside to be either burned or stripped for useable materials.

Over the next several weeks, settlers came from miles around to help get the Castle back up to speed. With the radio station, Radio Freedom, back up and running, people flocked to join the ranks of the Minutemen. One in particular was a former Minuteman, back from before Preston joined, named Ronnie Shaw. Ronnie had intimate knowledge of the Castle to include the armory and the blueprints for artillery stored there.

JJ and Ronnie went into the basement to reach the armory. While clearing the mines and a machinegun turret from the basement, JJ was stepping around a corner when he heard a sentrybot powering up.

"SENTRYBOT!" JJ yelled as he grabbed an EMP grenade while simultaneously shouting the Military override code which Sarge ignored completely.

"Oh well, it was worth a try." He said as he tossed the grenade around the corner. The EMP grenade bounced once and rolled right against the tread before it detonated. Sarge was shielded against EMP's but over the years, some of the shielding had decayed enough to let some of the blast through.

JJ darted around the corner and made it to the access panel at the back of the sentrybot in time to pop out the fusion core.

"That was close. I'll get Sturgis to reset the targeting processor later. For now I'll leave him here and get a squad down here to clean up the place." JJ said as Ronnie moved passed Sarge to get to the shielded room with a terminal sitting on a desk in the corner.

"Well General, I had my doubts about you but you handled Sarge better than I figured you would. You might pull this off after all." She chuckled sarcastically.

JJ bristled at her tone and turned her to face him. "Let's get one thing straight Ronnie. I am in charge here. You may have been in the Minutemen longer than me but don't take my short time here for granted. I was born before your grandfather was and I have real world combat experience that dates to before the battle of Anchorage. I actually fought IN the battle to free Anchorage from the Chinese! I have been held in cryogenic suspension for over 200 years in Vault 111."

Ronnie appraised JJ coldly before replying. "Now you look here sonny boy. You may be good but I think you are pulling my leg with that one. I think you've read one too many comic books."

JJ held his ground. "Granted, I've read a lot of comic books. But I swear on everything that's holy, I was born before the war, fought in the United States Army against the Chinese, won shit tons of medals to include the Congressional Medal of Honor, and was frozen in cryogenic suspension with my wife and son on the day the bombs fell."

Ronnie looked him in the eyes calmly and thought it over before continuing. "Well General, I've always considered myself a good reader of people. I look in your eyes and I see you are sincere in what you believe. I guess we can give this a run and see where it leads. So I guess you can consider me asking to rejoin the Minutemen."

JJ relaxed a bit. "Well then Colonel, let's get back to it shall we?" Ronnie couldn't help but snort. "That's a big jump from Lieutenant to Colonel just like that." JJ relaxed even more and smiled. "Well, it will actually be Lieutenant Colonel for now. Preston will need an Executive Officer to back him here at the Castle."

Ronnie looked up in mild surprise. "I figured he would be your XO and I'd kind of be First Sergeant or maybe Sergeant Major."

JJ shook his head. "No, Preston will be the base commander where I will be overall in charge of all of the Minutemen everywhere."

Ronnie chuckled and held out her hand. JJ Smiled and shook her hand before both continued through to the armory. In the armory there was a fully functional armor workbench and a weapons workbench. As well as a wide selection of laser muskets, grenades, land mines, and other weapons.

JJ picked up the blueprints for the artillery and looked them over. "Well, they are rudimentary compared to what we used in the war but they are functional. Let's get these out to the engineers so we can start getting them built. At least until we can come up with some better ones."

Ronnie looked a bit puzzled as JJ explained. "These are fixed emplacements. Easy to target and take out as they are fixed in place and cannot move. We had mobile artillery platforms that could be moved and used anywhere. It made it difficult but not impossible for the enemy to track, target, and destroy them. If we came up with some way to move these around, it would greatly reduce the risk for them. "

Before she walked out JJ thought of something. "We could set several down at Somerville Place or the Murkwater settlement and use the Glowing Sea as an impact area." Ronnie looked confused again.

JJ chuckled then clarified. "I see that confused you. We need a place to train the men on the use of the cannon. As it is, I bet you and I are the only two people left alive that know how to aim and fire these guns. There is nothing to hurt or destroy in the Glowing Sea other than ghouls, radscorpians, death claws, and such. Firing artillery rounds into it would be more practical than using fertile land that can be used for settlement."

Ronnie thought that over and nodded. "Makes sense actually. But for now these will work just fine. I'll grab some guys and we'll get the area down here ship shape in no time General." She saluted JJ and walked out to start kicking ass and taking names.

JJ stood looking around for a bit. He looked up as he could hear Ronnie barking orders to a squad of Minutemen she had brought down to the basement. With the clean-up in good hands, JJ headed back to the courtyard.

Sturgis and Professor Scara had nearly finished building the molecular relay from the plans provided by Virgil. The walls on the Castle had been repaired, defenses added, rooms rebuilt, and shops built. One fusion reactor had been brought in, so once the second one in the basement had been overhauled, the Castle would have more than enough power to spare.

JJ went to his quarters to pull up his files on the computer. He had some decisions to make and he needed his files to make the best ones. There was several things he needed to do once the relay was complete. The alliance with the Railroad was still shaky at best so he called the Minuteman that was assigned as his runner for the moment and sent him to find Preston.

It was twenty minutes later when Preston strolled into JJ's office. "Good morning General, Private Smith said you needed to see me."

JJ looked up from the map table he was studying. "Yes Colonel, I need you to link up with Desdemona at the Railroad and coordinate our efforts to solidify our alliance. We can spare one or two platoons to be assigned to them to help carry out missions for the Railroad. That includes clearing out and fortifying to switchboard."

Preston nodded the acceptance of his orders. "Not a problem General, we can definitely make that happen. I do have a question to ask though. You're not planning on using the relay alone are you?"

JJ thought for a bit. "I was planning on going alone. But if it will make you feel any better, I'll take a fire team of Rangers in the T-60 MKVI armor with me but no more. I have no idea what we will be transporting into so I can't risk taking any more."

Preston shook his head. "Actually Sir, I object to you going at all. I know you need to find your son but you ARE the leader of the Minutemen and we can't afford to lose you if something goes wrong."

JJ stood his ground. "Preston, I know you are just doing your job and protecting the Minutemen as a whole. But I AM doing this no matter the cost. I have trained you and the other trainers well. If anything does happen to me, I know you and the rest will make it just fine. This is just something I have to do."

Preston seemed to deflate as he knew the General's mind was made up. "Ok Sir, you win. I see there is nothing I can do to talk you out of this. Just promise me you will be careful for Piper's sake if for nothing else."

JJ nodded his head. "I promise I will be extremely careful for everyone's sake." Preston nodded his head. "Ok Sir, is that all for now?" The General thought for a bit.

"Yes, that's all for now. I will have a contingency plan drawn up with further orders before I use the relay. Send a message to Captain Jacobs and have him hand pick a fire team to go with me. I'll brief them on the mission when they arrive, dismissed Colonel." JJ said and saluted his XO.

With those last words, JJ went back to studying the map while Preston returned the salute to his commanding officer before leaving the room.

Piper had returned to Diamond City to check on Nat and the paper. The night before JJ planned to leave, she arrived back at the Castle. Needless to say, she was not happy with JJ's plan to use the relay and go to the Institute and she let JJ know in no uncertain terms.

"Like hell you're going to use that contraption without me! There is no earthly way in hell that I will allow that!"

JJ's features softened as he looked into Piper's eyes. "Sweetheart, I understand you are worried about me. But I have no choice but to take this approach. I have to find Shaun and using the relay to get into the Institute is my only lead. I will not risk both of our lives on a gamble. My life is one thing. I'm used to risking my life just as I did even back before the bombs fell. It is part of being a Soldier. You, my Lovely Lady, are not a Soldier."

Piper was about to continue protesting but JJ held up his hand. "Let me finish. I've also grown VERY fond of you Piper. I will not take the risk of a malfunction in the relay killing you. Once I have made sure it's safe, I will call you and let you know."

Piper still wasn't buying it. "So what happens if a malfunction kills you? What am I supposed to do then? What do the Minutemen do without you? The world NEEDS you John! You're the best hope this world has for recovering and becoming whole again! I NEED you John!"

JJ eased toward Piper and took her in his arms. She tried to fight at first but he was persistent. She finally gave in and collapsed against his chest crying. "Sshhhhh, it's ok Piper. I promise nothing will go wrong. I'll be back in your arms in no time. Trust me ok? I don't have any other choice but to do this. You have researched the Institute for a couple of years and you are no closer to finding them than when you started."

JJ held Piper for a very long time before gently picking her up in his arms and lying down on the bed with her.

The next morning a Lieutenant Jefferies arrived with a fire team from the Ranger company. JJ had worked closely with Captain Jacobs in getting a company sized element of Minutemen trained to Ranger standards from before the war. Later, when he had time, JJ planned on taking the best of that company and training them to the level of his old Special Forces Special Operations team (Spec Ops).

After the Spec Ops teams were matured, he would take the best Minutemen he could find period and train a Delta Force level strike team. But all of that depended on him not dying in the relay or after he got into the Institute.

Lieutenant Jefferies snapped of a crisp salute as he entered the General's chambers. "Lieutenant Jefferies reporting with a fire team as ordered General." JJ returned the salute. "At ease Lieutenant. Have a seat and we'll go over the Op Order (Operations Order)."

JJ briefed the Lieutenant on what he expected from him and the fire team once they used the relay in the morning. Sturgis had finished assembling the final piece of the relay and connecting it to the second fusion reactor. All of the preliminary tests checked green so JJ decided they would activate it at 0400 the next morning.

 **0400 the next morning**

JJ and the fire team of Rangers were assembled on the main platform of the molecular relay as Sturgis powered up the device. "Here, I've programmed this special holotape to download the information stored on any computer it's loaded into. Just plug it into any networked terminal in the Institute and it will do the rest. Ok General, hold onto your hat. Here goes nothing!" He yelled over the roar and crackle of the relay.

There was a load crack and a massive flash of blinding white light. The upgraded power armor HUDs immediately compensated for the bright flash by instantly darkening. As the light faded, JJ watched in appreciation as the Lieutenant and his fire team automatically fanned out around him to cover the room.

Shouts of clear echoed throughout the room before the Rangers stacked on the door and quickly moved out to clear the outer room. "Doorway front! Console front! Blind corner left!" Two of the Rangers moved to the left and pied the corner (Moved around the corner in small increments while holding a weapon ready to fire until the whole room was in full view and deemed safe). "Clear!"

As the Rangers moved around the computer console in the center of the room, JJ spotted the camera above the doorway turn toward him. Not long after, a voice began coming from the speakers. "Hello, I am called Father. I welcome you to the Institute. There was no need for you to bring an armed escort. You are perfectly safe here."

JJ didn't answer but all of the Rangers looked toward him while still covering the doorway to their front as the voice continued. "You've been through a lot to get here. Oh yes, I've kept tabs on you from time to time since the very moment you exited your pod in Vault 111. You've done very well for yourself and the Commonwealth."

There was a short pause. "But you're not here to listen to an old man ramble. Continue down the hallway in front of you. You will come to an elevator. Take that elevator all the way down. Once that elevator reaches the bottom, follow the hallway to a second elevator which will bring you straight to me. I have waited so long to meet you face to face."

Lieutenant Jefferies spoke up then. "It could be a trap Sir. Wait here and let us check it out first." JJ shook his head. "No Lieutenant, I'm going with you. Just form up in a standard escort position with you just in front of me but offset slightly to my left."

The Rangers didn't like that but did as told. The four man fire team formed a box with each at the four corners, JJ in the center, and the Lieutenant in front of and slightly offset to the General's left. This left a clear field of fire to the front of four of the six man team. The team did not encounter any resistance whatsoever though. The Rangers, having been born after the bombs fell, were totally awestruck by the level of technology they saw around them.

When they exited the second elevator, there was a glassed in room that contained a small boy. JJ immediately pulled of his helmet and approached the glass. The boy and he studied each other quietly before the excitement got the best of JJ and he hit the intercom button on the side of the room.

"Shaun? Shaun!? My God, I've looked for you for so long. How are you doing buddy?" Shaun looked confused but stood up. "Yes, I'm Shaun who are you?" JJ felt a stab of pain at hearing that.

"It's ok Shaun, I'm your Dad. I'm going to get you out of here." He began looking for a release to the door to the room Shaun was in. Once Shaun realized what JJ was doing he panicked. "No leave me alone! I don't know you! Father help! Someone's trying to take me! Help!"

Over that JJ heard the voice of the man from the intercom. It was quickly calling an override code but this time it was not coming from the speakers. The Rangers snapped their weapons up to cover an old man entering the room. He was wearing a lab coat and holding both hands in plain sight out to his sides. JJ moved forward to confront him.

"Stand down Rangers, he's unarmed." The Rangers lowered their weapons but kept them at the low ready. The boy in the glass room had slumped forward with his arms hanging toward the ground.

The man introduced himself. "Hello again. I am called Father. I apologize for the boy. He is a prototype you see. We've just begun to explore the reactions to strong emotions. I am the one in charge of this facility. It is good to finally meet you face to face." JJ took one more step closer to the man. "You've got A LOT to answer for."

The older man held up his hands. "You have traveled very far and suffered a great deal to find your son. Well, your tenacity and dedication have been rewarded. It is good to finally meet you after all this time. It's me. I am Shaun. I am... your son."

This froze JJ in his tracks. "What did you say? You are my son? How is that even possible? You're a lot older than I am?" Shaun smiled a bit.

"You still look much the way you did when we first entered the vault. Is it so hard to believe that it hasn't been ten years since Mom was murdered, it has been sixty..."

The powerful leader of the Minutemen was at a loss for words. He stood there looking at the man that claimed to be his son for a long time before breaking the silence. "I don't know what to say. Now that you have brought it to my attention, you do have a strong resemblance to your mother. But they murdered her and I was helpless to stop them... But I took care of him by snapping his neck."

Shaun looked down at the power armor gauntlets. "I knew you would find him and make sure justice was served. I have read up on your file, even the non-redacted one that was stored on the main frame of the Switchboard."

JJ's face hardened. "A lot of good men and women were hurt or outright killed the day your synths stormed the Switchboard. But if all is going according to plan, that will be retaken soon with the help of my Minutemen. So if you want to save whatever forces you still have there, I would strongly suggest recalling them..."

The Rangers couldn't help but snicker. Shaun of course was not amused. When he looked his father in the eye, Shaun could tell he wasn't amused either. "Synths are our creations. If we lose some, we just simply make more. We keep tight control over them and ALWAYS do what we can to reclaim one if it escapes. I was taken to provide uncontaminated DNA to create the Generation 3 synths you see today."

JJ took another step toward Shaun, causing his son to have to take a step back. "Since you HAVE read my file, you KNOW what I am truly capable of. I can be your best friend or the very worst nightmare you could ever conceive. With the new technology I've acquired, added to my already considerable skills, I am virtually invincible."

Shaun was not used to someone talking to him like this and he was a little thrown off. "This is not what I envisioned for our first time meeting. I have strived with the Institute to save mankind. The Institute... It's important. I believe it really is humanity's best hope for the future, no matter what those above ground might think of us."

JJ looked around at the Rangers and then back at his son. "Are you serious? What the fuck is wrong with you? How is kidnapping humans and replacing them with synths the best hope for the future? You say synths are your creation, that they aren't really alive. So how does replacing REAL HUMANS with FAKE ONES make any sense?! That is not helping humanity, it's hurting humanity and driving it to extinction..."

JJ paused and lowered his voice back to normal conversation levels. "Shaun, you people have the technology to make a REAL difference in the worlds future."

He made a sweeping motion with his hand encompassing the room. "All of this looks like the world used to before the bombs fell. Everything is clean, radiation free, and working. I'm serious, you could make a real difference and change the world for the better."

Shaun stayed quiet as he ran through things in his head. His father was making a whole lot of sense for a surface dweller. He had always just followed in the footsteps of his mentors as he grew in the Institute. He decided to take JJ's advice and think it over more. "Alright, you do bring up some very valid points. I would ask that you consider my offer to join with the Institute and I will give serious thought to the points you have raised. In the meantime, I will suspend all operations involved in growing more Synths or replacing anyone."

JJ relaxed just a bit. "I appreciate that but I will not suspend the planned attack to retake the Switchboard. That was United States Government property and as the last living member of the US Armed forces, that makes it my responsibility to protect it. And I am taking it back and fortifying it against counterattack."

Shaun stood looking at his father. "I will issue the order to evacuate the switchboard. No one needs to die today. We can work together Dad... You and your men may return to the surface if you like. I would only ask, that if you feel inclined, for you to tour the facility and get to know the people down here to help you make a more informed decision."

JJ thought it over for a bit. "Lieutenant, take your men back to the relay room and return home. I'll stay here a bit longer and take the tour." He leaned just close enough for only Lieutenant Jefferies to hear him whisper. "It will also give me an idea of what we may have to go against if things turn to shit."

JJ had passed his message without anyone noticing. The Rangers made their way back to the relay room while JJ followed his son into the Director's living quarters. Shaun turned to JJ. "You can leave your power armor over there in the corner if you would like. It will be safe in my quarters and it will ease the drain on its fusion core. You won't be needing it while you're here."

The General thought for a minute then decided he would do as his son suggested. He wasn't worried about anyone using his armor against him, Jeremy had installed a coded security lock that not only needed a combination of numbers to be entered, it also had a biometric sensor in the keys.

JJ made his way through all of the sections of the Institute meeting all of the department heads. Doctor Li, of Advanced Systems was ordered by Father to install a Courser Chip in JJ's pip boy. This allowed him to access the molecular relay any time he wanted.

After leaving Dr. Li, JJ made his way to the Synth Retention Bureau (S.R.B.). He was greeted cordially by a Courser as he entered. The head of the S.R.B. was talking to one of his assistants. Justin Ayo was an extremely arrogant man and was very angry with JJ at the moment.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Why would you talk the Director into suspending manufacturing of Synths or their recovery? They are the best ho..."

JJ held his hand up. "Don't give me that same bullshit about synths being the best hope for mankind's survival. They are synthetics and though they may develop independent thought, they are not a real human. They cannot reproduce on their own, they have to be created. The best hope for mankind is that you super smart idiots focus your technology on cleaning up the damage done to the world."

Everyone in the S.R.B. froze as no one EVER talked to Ayo that way. Two Coursers came and stood by the doorway but did nothing but observe for now. JJ noticed them but only continued. "I have met several of your synths to include a Gen 2 that calls himself Nick Valentine. I've also had run-ins with multiple Gen1's and 2's where I had to kill them. Then there was your Courser that I took out at Greenetech Genetics."

Dr. Ayo interrupted at the mention of his Courser. "Speaking of that, I'd like to know how you managed to take down one of my Coursers. That should not have been possible."

JJ actually busted out laughing. "Dr. Ayo, I could have taken down a dozen Coursers and would not have broken a sweat. I am not your average Wastlelander. I know you've heard I was a Soldier before the war. But I guarantee you don't know the full extent of my skills or training. I am simply a true killing machine..."

He took a step toward Justin which put JJ in the perfect position to strike if needed. He literally towered over the nerdy doctor. The Coursers knew it was the perfect position and tensed to protect the doctor if needed. Dr. Ayo cowered in front of this massively muscled and VERY dangerous man.

Justin had always been cocky and arrogant but for the first time that he could remember, he was truly terrified for his life. "Alright, alright, point WELL taken. Maybe we can work together and you can alter our training so this doesn't happen again."

JJ's voice hardened. "If I have anything to say about it, synth production will NEVER be reinstated EVER again. This playing God has to end. Go to the surface and look around you. You'll see what playing God leads to. I did not have the power back then to affect any type of real change. Fortunately now, I do have that power and will use it to its fullest extent."

With that statement, JJ turned and left the S.R.B. He couldn't help but chuckle at the large dark stain spreading from Dr. Ayo's crotch area.

His next stop was at the Institute's archive lab. JJ sat down at the main terminal in the lab and began typing. He pulled up data from the early days right after the bombs fell. No one was in the lab but JJ and a security camera. He be blocked the view of the camera and inserted the holotape Sturgis had given him into the slot of the terminal. It took a couple of minutes but the seeker tape copied information until it was full. There was simply too much information for a single tape to hold all of it.

While JJ was in the archives, he studied multiple blueprints of the Institute until he found a way into the F.E.V. (Forced Evolutionary Virus) lab. He intended on keeping to his part of the deal with Virgil whether he allied with his son or not.

JJ stood up and made his way to the BioScience lab where the blueprints had shown him a way to enter. He made it into a disused portion of the lab and paused as he heard a turret slowly turning as it scanned the hallway. JJ was out of its firing arc as he hadn't passed through the doorway. Without his power armor, he was going to have to be extremely careful.

He took out his suppressed 10mm pistol and braced himself. A quick peak around the corner showed him a laser tripwire device and a turret. JJ waited for a few seconds then leaned forward an put 2 rounds into the turret disabling it. He disarmed the tripwire and moved on, disabling several more turrets and running into an assaultron.

Having been in the Institute since right after the war, the assaultron hadn't had its original programming removed, just added to. So it accepted JJ's command override and continued its patrol of the large room. JJ sat against the wall thanking anyone he could that the override worked. Without his power armor, he might not have survived an attack by the assaultron inside an enclosed space, no matter how skilled he was. Long distance on a battlefield with heavy weapons was one thing. Being in close quarters inside a room was a whole different ballgame.

After disabling four more laser turrets and hacking a maglocked door, JJ made it into the actual F.E.V. lab. He retrieved the serum and copied all of the data from the labs terminals onto some blank holotapes he found in a drawer.

JJ made his way back to Shaun's room then donned his power armor before turning to face Shaun. He had slipped the serum and holotapes into his backpack before Shaun entered the room.

"Leaving so soon?" Shaun asked. JJ hadn't put on the helmet yet so he looked his son in the eye. "I have a lot of thinking to do Shaun. I'm also needed by my Minutemen. I got a message saying the Brotherhood of Steel is stepping up their operations around the Commonwealth. I need to deal with them before I make any major decisions."

Shaun nodded in understanding. "Yes, we have been monitoring their airship and operations since they arrived. If we joined forces, we could easily overcome anything they may have to throw at us."

JJ shook his head. "I would rather find a diplomatic solution to them rather than have to go to war against them. With that airship, their numerous vertibirds, and the reinforcements they can call up, it would be a very bloody conflict. I have seen more than enough of my share of that in my lifetime. Besides, from everything I have read up on them, the Brotherhood has charters all over the country and would not only outnumber us but most likely outgun us as well."

Shaun simply smiled. "Here at the Institute, we have an unlimited source of Soldiers. We can create an army the likes of which this world has never seen."

Again JJ shook his head. "No, that would have to be our last resort. I will try to talk to and reason with them first. Then if all else fails, we can discuss the option of full scale war."

Shaun stood there contemplating. "Well, I wish you luck Dad, from everything we have learned, you will need it with the Brotherhood of Steel."

JJ then made his way to the relay room to return the surface. He had sent a message over his pip-boy to avoid interception and found out Sturgis had returned to Ft. Hagen to continue to work on the alien craft. JJ set the coordinates for Ft. Hagen and activated the relay.

A bright flash of light deposited JJ next to the front gate of his former command. The automated turrets swiveled to track the General before receiving the automatic IFF signal transmitted by JJ's power armor. The smart frame terminal that ran the turrets also scanned for the proper biosignature, JJ had set that up as a back-up in case someone's power armor or the codes were stolen.

JJ made his way through the fort until he got to the alien craft and Sturgis who looked up from an open panel on the side of the ship. "Hey Boss, glad to see you made it back in one piece. How's it going?"

JJ fished the holotape out of a pouch and handed it to Sturgis. "Your snooper program worked like a charm. Let's just hope it got something we can use. The Institute's mainframe probably has petabytes maybe even exabytes of data stored on it. The snooper was only able to pull a small part of it."

Sturgis whistled softly. "Whoooo Weee! That's a lot of data! I designed this holotape to hold nearly five times what a normal one does. But that still only gives us about one hundred terabytes. Good thing I programmed special parameters into the snooper. If it worked right, it will have pulled construction data and blueprints of the whole facility as a top priority."

JJ stood looking over the alien ship thinking. "Have you found out anything we can use yet?"

Sturgis grinned from ear to ear. "You bet I have Boss! Believe it or not, there was a translation program on your old friend's terminal. How he got his hands on the alien language I'll never know but it sure helped out! This is classified as an armed long range scout. It has energy shields, plasma based weapons, faster than light engines, a better fusion reactor than we have, and long range scanners."

JJ whistled softly and strolled around the craft slowly. "What I mean, is can you replicate any of the technology?"

Sturgis nodded very enthusiastically. "Yes Sir! With the translation program and my own knowledge of fusion reactors, I can increase the output of our reactors, to include the fusion cores, enough to add shields to our bases, vertibirds, and maybe even the X-01 armor..."

JJ's head snapped up at that prospect but it also raised questions. "Why only the X-01? Why not the others?"

Sturgis replied quickly and with confidence. "The X-01's are constructed using that Saturnite and alien technology. The aliens figured a way to use the heat absorbing and storing ability of the Saturnite to sort of route the heat from energy weapons back into the fusion core like charging a battery. So the power conduits are designed to handle the extra power. Now if we can get our hands on more Saturnite, I can make any power armor with shields. Here you go, here is all of the data I have downloaded and translated. There is a lot of stuff I don't quite understand though. Maybe you can spot something I missed."

He handed over a small stack of holotapes to JJ. The general took the tapes wondering to himself if he should take them to the Institute to see if they could help.

"Thanks Sturgis. I'll look them over and let you know what I find." JJ took the tapes and stored them in his ruck sack. As he zipped up the ruck and reattached it to the back of his power armor, JJ decided to share his thoughts with Sturgis. "You know Sturgis, I am thinking about getting some Institute scientists to help you with the alien ship. They have technology like even I have never seen."

Sturgis looked a bit uncomfortable at the mention of the Institute and JJ picked up on it. " It's not set in stone, I was just mulling it over. I mean I found my son and he is leader of the Institute so I have some sway with them."

That made Sturgis feel a little better but not much. "That's all well and good General, it's just the Institute has been the boogey man of the Commonwealth since before I was born."

JJ chuckled slightly. "That's ok buddy. I understand and will take the appropriate action to protect the Commonwealth if necessary. Now I better get back to the Castle and look into this problem with the Brotherhood of Steel. Just in case it doesn't go well and we have to take them on in a fight, I want you to do the upgrade and install shields on as many of our vertibirds as you can."

Sturgis acknowledged the orders then remembered something. "Speaking of vertibirds, I finished the refit on the gunship. It's in the next bay over if you want to check it out."

JJ smiled at Sturgis' enthusiasm. "I have a few minutes so sure, I'll check it out." He followed Sturgis through the door into the next bay. What he saw brought back some good memories from his past.

Sitting in the bay was a vertibird that would have been right at home with the prototype gunships used during the liberation of Anchorage.

There were large outriggers on either side of the troop compartment. On each outrigger there were two quad missile launchers, a minigun, and a Gatling laser. A standard minigun was also on each door gun still as well as the two forward facing fifty caliber heavy machineguns in the nose.

JJ couldn't help but whistle at the power house in front of him. "Wow Sturgis! That's some serious firepower!"

Sturgis was grinning from ear to ear and very excited. "You ain't just a wolfing Boss. The outriggers have modular hard points so we can switch out weapon loads with ease. I am working on a rocket pod like the one you showed me on the old Apache gunships. It will have twenty of the three inch unguided rockets instead of the 2.75 inch the Apache sported. With four of those mounted on each outrigger, you can sure mess up a VERY large area if needed!"

JJ couldn't help but laugh. "That's awesome Sturgis, just plain awesome. Get this bird fueled up and ready. Also, start refitting more of our birds this way along with the shielding A.S.A.P.! We may need them and their firepower really soon."

With that he donned his power armor and headed to the Tactical Operations Center (T.O.C.) of Fort Hagen. After a quick briefing from the duty officer, he had the vertibird gunship take him to the Castle.

Thanks to Shaun recalling the synths from the Switchboard, the assault from the combined forces of the Railroad and the Minutemen went off without a hitch. Minutemen engineers moved in to help fortify the place against any form of counter-attack if necessary. Later, after getting more data from the Institute, Sturgis and JJ would come up with a jammer that would keep anyone from using the molecular relay to relay in.

 **Back at the Castle**

Once the vertibird landed, JJ made his way to the command center of the Castle where Preston was waiting for him. "Welcome back General. I'm happy you found what you were looking for and would love to discuss where we go from here with the Institute but we have serious problems with the Brotherhood."

JJ chuckled and returned Preston's salute. "Thanks Preston and I have some ideas about both the Institute and the Brotherhood. We'll deal with the Brotherhood first though. Get me a channel to the Prydwen." Since Fort Hagen had been made operational, the Minutemen had been monitoring every Brotherhood of Steel radio transmission, even the encoded ones.

It didn't take long before the Prydwen responded to the Minutemen's hail. "Castle, this is Lancer Captain Kells, captain of the Prydwen. What can I do for you?"

JJ picked up the microphone. "Captain Kells, this is General Jonathan Jones, leader of the Minutemen. I think we may have a problem and I need to have a talk with Elder Maxson."

There was a long pause before Captain Kells responded. "I will pass along your request and get back to you on this channel. Lancer Captain Kells out."

JJ looked around the command center in amusement. "Wow! I haven't been dismissed like that since I was a young Lieutenant just out of Officer's School!..." Then he motioned to Preston to follow him.

He lead Preston to his quarters and closed the door behind him. He motioned for Preston to have a seat before pulling two cold beers from the refrigerator. Once JJ seated himself, he began a casual briefing of his second in command.

"Sturgis has made a discovery from the alien craft that will greatly increase the power of the Minutemen. And it will be a huge advantage if the talks with the Brotherhood break down and we go to war with them. He has found a way to increase the power output of our fusion reactors and fusion cores to the point he can install energy shields at all of our bases, on our vertibirds, and to the X-01 armor."

He paused to let his XO digest the news. "That's great news General. But I really hope it doesn't come to war with the Brotherhood. Not that the Minutemen aren't ready for it, I just prefer that it doesn't happen."

JJ looked his XO in the eye. "I totally agree with you Preston. And with the upgrades Sturgis is doing as we speak, we could take out this faction of the Brotherhood easily. We will lose a few Soldiers but we would still win easily. But I will keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't come to war."

He took a long draw of his beer before continuing. "Now on to what I learned in the Institute. I'll assume Lieutenant Jefferies briefed you on my son being the leader of the Institute." Preston nodded and took a draw off his beer while JJ continued.

"I got a good look at the layout of the place and if it comes to it, I can get a small strike team inside to hold the relay long enough to bring in an overwhelming force. I did however make serious headway in convincing Shaun that it may be better to be allies than enemies."

JJ continued laying out all he learned and discovered while he was in the Institute. Both were into their third beer when the runner came and informed them that Elder Maxson was calling on the radio.

JJ and Preston made their way back to the command center to see what the Brotherhood Elder had to say.

JJ picked up the microphone once again. "Elder Maxson this is General Jones. I think we need to meet and have a face to face conversation BEFORE something tragic happens between our forces."

The radio crackled as the Elder replied. "I agree General. Your forces have steadily grown in power since we arrived and I would like to avoid a tragic occurrence as well. I suggest a neutral meeting place if there is one to be found in the Commonwealth."

JJ smirked at that as the Elder was right. There was almost no place in the Commonwealth that didn't support the Minutemen and hate the Brotherhood. JJ looked to Preston. "Where would you suggest XO?"

Preston thought for a bit. "There's the Coast Guard station on the river just North of Egret Tours Marina. We've cleared it of the Super Mutants that were living there but haven't manned it yet. It's helipad has been cleared." JJ nodded. "That will be perfect."

JJ keyed the mike. "Elder Maxson, there is an old Coast Guard station we cleared but haven't manned yet. Its helipad has been cleared and it has plenty of open terrain around it."

After a short pause the radio crackled to life. "I know the place General and I agree it will be a good place to meet. However there is a lot of Minuteman controlled area that we will have to fly over. Can you assure me that I won't be shot out of the air?"

JJ keyed the mike and responded. "Elder, if our intentions were to shoot you out of the air, don't you think the missile and heavy laser turrets at Fort Strong would have already done so? We have had it cleared and occupied since before you arrived here."

Back on the Prydwen, Elder Maxson looked into Captain Kells eyes. "That's a sobering thought wouldn't you say Captain?"

Elder Maxson responded with close to those same words. "That's a sobering thought General and a very good point. We'll meet you at the Coast Guard station in one hour if that is acceptable."

"Agreed Elder. I'll see you in one hour. General Jones out." He placed the mike back on its stand and turned toward his quarters, motioning for Preston to follow.

Again JJ closed the doors behind him. "Alright Preston, you and I will take a small escort from Lt. Jefferie's Rangers and head to the station in thirty minutes. I want not only a platoon of Minutemen in power armor but a full squadron of vertibirds and a platoon of Behemoths standing by at the Marina just in case. From all I have read up on about Elder Maxson, he is a brilliant tactician and utterly ruthless towards his enemies but he can be reasoned with. So we'll hope none of that firepower will be necessary."

Preston nodded. "Let's hope it won't be but just in case, that's a solid plan Sir. I would suggest you wear your power armor as well though."

JJ shook his head. "I'll have it inside the station but I won't wear it out to the actual face to face. I doubt Elder Maxson will be in armor."

Preston wasn't happy but also knew when his general had his mind set on something. So he sent out orders to set in motion the plan his general had just laid out for him.

Thirty minutes later, JJ exited his power armor out of sight on the first floor of the abandoned Coast Guard station. The vertibird that dropped him, the Ranger fire team, and Preston off rose into the air to join the rest of the vertibirds staged at Somerville Place.

A half hour after JJ, Preston, and their escort was dropped off, a trio of vertibirds approached from the Northeast. The two flanking vertibirds were obviously heavily armed gunships, at least by the standards of 2287. Neither had missiles on outriggers as the vertibird gunships JJ was used to from the war had. Sturgis and the other engineers were astounded when JJ had described them and then helped them modify several Minutemen vertibirds to that standard.

Now Minutemen gunships with not only missiles but the unguided rocket pods would be a common sight across the Commonwealth.

The two flanking vertibirds hovered as the center one landed on the helipad. JJ, Preston, and the Ranger escort stood inside the repaired fence awaiting Elder Maxson and his escort. The first off of the center vertibird were two paladins in T-60 power armor. They flanked out to either side as a third paladin in familiar T-60 armor and Elder Maxson exited.

The first two Brotherhood paladins took up escort positions to the front of Elder Maxson with the third one bringing up the rear. As they approached, Elder Maxson was sizing up this new leader of the Minutemen.

General Jones was wearing a long blue overcoat with five stars on each side of the collar. Instead of the traditional tricorn hat worn by former Minutemen generals, this one was wearing a baseball cap that said United States Army Special Forces and patrolman sunglasses. Even under the overcoat, Elder Maxson could see the general was heavily muscled.

The three Brotherhood paladins and Elder Maxson came to a stop a few yards in front of JJ and his escort. The two flanking paladins took a small step to either side while Elder Maxson took three more steps to place himself one step ahead of them.

JJ stepped forward until he was face to face with the leader of the East coast charter of the Brotherhood of Steel. He extended his right hand in greeting.

"Elder Maxson, I'm General Jonathan Jones. Thank you for agreeing to this meeting. May I present Colonel Preston Garvey, my second in command."

The Brotherhood Elder shook Preston's hand and indicated the paladin that had brought up the rear but was now standing next to him. "Thank you for offering to meet. I'm Elder Arthur Maxson. I'm sure you know my third in command from Cambridge Police Station, Senior Paladin Danse. You have spoken to my second, Lancer Captain Kells, but he stayed with the Prydwen as he is in actual command of it."

JJ then motioned to a table he had ordered set up near the entrance of the Coast Guard station. "Please, have a seat and let's get started."

Once Elder Maxson and JJ were seated across from each other, Paladin Danse raised a question. All four members of the Brotherhood had been eyeing Preston critically as he was wearing his X-01 armor.

"What is he doing here and why are you associating with the Enclave?" Danse demanded.

JJ could see Elder Maxson had been shifting his gaze to Preston suspiciously. "That armor and others were designed by a close friend of mine and my former Executive Officer when I was in command of Fort Hagen before the bombs fell. It was commissioned by the Enclave but was never delivered to them. We found them when we cleared and occupied the fort."

All four members of the Brotherhood froze and exchanged shocked looks. Danse had removed his helmet so his expression could be seen. "What do you mean before the bombs fell? You don't look like a ghoul and as far as I know, they are the only ones that can survive that long."

JJ smiled. "My family and I were allowed access to vault 111 because of my service to the United States Army. It was a cryogenic facility that froze most of its occupants, to include my wife, baby son, and I, in cryogenic suspension chambers. A man named Kellogg woke my wife, murdered her, and stole my son while I was still trapped in my pod. I was only released a little over eight months ago. I've been scouring the Commonwealth in search of him and my stolen baby boy ever since."

He paused for emphasis. "I found Kellogg not long ago and killed him after getting information that finally led to me finding my son. It was just not in the way I imagined. But that's another story for another time. Let's see if we can work out something and avoid all out war between us."

Elder Maxson was still a bit stunned by what he had just heard but agreed. "Any type of armed conflict between our factions would be a tragedy and very costly for both sides. We are here to investigate and, if necessary, destroy the Institute to protect the Commonwealth and the world. We really and truly do have the best interest of the Commonwealth in mind."

JJ remained calm, relaxed, and kept a straight face. "Well, if that's true, there will be no need for you to destroy the Institute. I have convinced them to stop Synth production and the kidnapping of Commonwealth residents. Furthermore, I would not allow their destruction anyway." He kept the fact that his son was the leader of the Institute to himself.

Maxson locked gazes with JJ. "Look around you General. Look at the scorched earth and the bones that litter the wasteland. Millions... perhaps even billions, died because science outpaced man's restraint. They called it a "new frontier" or "pushing the envelope," completely disregarding the repercussions. Can't you see the same thing is happening again with the Institute?"

JJ thought for a minute. "You make a good point but that is why I decided to try an alliance with the Institute. They have the technology to heal the world and make it a better place. With the help of the Minutemen, other factions, and your Brotherhood, we can reclaim the wasteland and make the world a better place for all people. I have seen that your leadership differs from that of former Elders. You ordered your people to trade technology for food and medicine rather than hoard it. I extend my hand in friendship not war. But know that if war comes, I will defend the people of the Commonwealth with EVERY means at my disposal."

He paused to let that sink in before continuing. "As the last surviving member of the true government of this once great nation, I vow to restore the United States and the world to at least its former glory. But hopefully much better than before. Without the megalomaniac, paranoid, and very destructive ideals that brought on all of this around us." He motioned at the destruction around them.

"We can live together in peace with each other AND technology. I know we can."

Everyone sat or stood in silence after those words for a very long time before Elder Maxson broke the long silence. "You don't mince words much do you? You make several very valid points. You have given me much to consider. I will return to the Prydwen and discuss your argument with my people. In the mean time I will withdraw all Brotherhood assets to the airport until we reach a decision."

He stood and was reaching across to shake JJ's hand when the Minutemen General leapt in the air tackling the Brotherhood leader, thus saving him from being struck in the face by a laser passing through where he had just stood.

The Minutemen Rangers and the Brotherhood Paladins immediately reacted to the threat as the radio crackled. The vertibirds had spotted the sniper and were moving to engage. JJ continued the roll and sprang to his feet at a full sprint. He raced into the building and jumped into his power armor. Another beam struck one of the flanking paladins squarely in the small gap between the helmet and shoulder, knocking him to the ground.

JJ came sprinting out of the building carrying his custom M-71 and began scanning the area the lasers were flying from with his upgraded HUD. "There on that low rise. I see two people lying there. They are wearing very effective visual camouflage. It's useless against the upgraded thermal imagers in this helmet though."

The Brotherhood vertibirds converged on the rise as JJ centered the crosshairs of his rifle on the head of one of the snipers and squeezed the trigger. He watched in satisfaction as a pink mist spread out behind his target just before the door gunners opened up with their miniguns. The Minuteman general rushed to the rise with Paladin Danse, the remaining paladin, and the Ranger escort in close pursuit.

The miniguns ceased firing as the group neared the small rise. What was left of the bodies of two shredded Gunners, lie on top of the rise. The remains of an overcharged laser rifle with a sniper barrel and scope were also there. JJ ordered his Rangers to gather the incriminating evidence and bring it to show Elder Maxson it wasn't his Minutemen that had attacked.

Elder Maxson was attempting to remove the helmet of the fallen paladin but the laser had fused the helmet to the torso armor. JJ grabbed the remote plug from his pip boy and attached it to the port on the T-60 armor.

He scanned the readout on the screen and shook his head sadly before addressing Elder Maxson. "I'm sorry Elder. The beam penetrated the small gap between his helmet and shoulder and burned almost completely through his neck. He was dead before he hit the ground. This was the Gunner's doing and the Minutemen and I will help avenge him for you. This just proves my point even better than I could have myself. We need to be allies and cleanse the world of filth like this."

Elder Maxson stood with his fists clenched tightly and teeth clamped together. "I vow the full power of my Brotherhood charter to help your Minutemen and you cleanse this world of dangerous and evil groups like this if it's the last thing I do. I will return his body to the Prydwen and contact you later. We need to formulate a plan to begin our campaign."

With those words, he turned and stalked toward his vertibird. JJ, Paladin Danse, and the remaining paladin lifted the fallen Brotherhood paladin and carried him behind the furious Elder.

As the Brotherhood vertibird rose in the air, JJ turned to face Preston. "Well Colonel, let's get back to the Castle and contact Desdemona and Shaun with the news. This is a historic moment and all the factions need to be involved in this planning. Once the Gunners are dealt with, we need to concentrate on other threats to the Commonwealth and begin our slow climb back to the top."

JJ, Preston, and the Ranger fire team boarded their vertibird gunship to return to the Castle to ramp up their reclamation of the Commonwealth.

 **Here's the next chapter and sorry it was a bit later than I planned but at least it wasn't a whole year coming out... Next chapter will bring new ideas and old ones along with the battle to cleanse the Commonwealth of Gunners and other threats. Until next time, thanks for reading and enjoy.**

..


End file.
